Like a Jigsaw Puzzle
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: "Does anyone else find it strange that no one around here knows the secret identities of Batman or Robin?" Wally wants to know what the secret is behind the masks of the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This sounds soooo much like "Glassy Blue" when I look at it. But I like this idea. The future chapters will be better. Especially when I get near the end of this. In the beginning, I'm just roughing it. And I'm trying not to have them too OOC. If I struggle, it'll be with Aqualad and Superboy. The others I have pretty much set.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC Comic characters.**

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"Does anyone else find it strange that no one around here knows the secret identities of Batman or Robin?" asked Wally, out of suit and using his real name instead of stressing the whole two name thing. It did get annoying. Flash Junior was worse though, he couldn't deny it. No one understood that it was Kid Flash, not Flashboy or Flash Junior. "We just know them as Batz and Rob in the free time." He stood in the kitchen area, gaze swinging towards Kaldur and the ebony-haired clone that sat beside him.

No one else seemed to care. Superboy was passive as ever and Kaldur just stared at the empty black tv screen, suddenly lost in thought of the proposed topic that the freckled boy had brought up. Megan was the only one who seemed to take notice in the fact that Wally was speaking and actually made an effort to reply. "It could be strange," she said, "since the rest of you all share names and such. But it must be perfectly normal for them. They're both very secretive compared to all of the rest of the Justice League."

Wally's lips twisted up in a thoughtful way and he blinked rapidly for a few seconds before responding, "What if it's some big secret that they're keeping?" He moved towards the couch and placed the base of his palms into the soft back of the thing, leaning on it. "What if they're serial killers?"

Superboy let out a disbelieving snort, unable to fathom this thought. Batman? A serial killer? "Could you see Batman being a serial killer?" he asked the ginger-haired kid with one raised eyebrow directed towards Wally.

"He may be dark and brooding, but he doesn't strike me as a murderer." Kaldur turned his position so his silvery eyes could find his three other teammates as they were around him. Superboy was perched on the couch beside him and Wally and Megan were both behind him. "I'm not even quite sure where you got that idea from, really..."

Megan flew her way to be closer to the rest of the crew. "Wally has a point. They may not be serial killers or murderers, but there must be some reason they're keeping secrets. If they're going to be like that, why didn't the whole Justice League just keep their aliases secret?"

The speedster shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I want to know. I mean, Robin doesn't tell me squat. He treats Batman like a god. It's almost ridiculous." Half the time, the green-eyed boy wanted to tell Rob to stop treating Batman like he was a savior of some kind; the other half of the time, he was scared of the Dark Knight. It was _that_ kind of relationship. "I mean, do we even know who Batman is?"

Wary glances were cast between the other three for a long moment as silence flooded the small space they all sat or stood in. Kaldur's eyes were questioning whereas Superboy's were naturally suspicious. Megan was just confused as ever. A girl like her could only be naïve.

"Exactly." Wally turned and leaned so that the top of the couch's backing was pressed into the small of his back. "I'm just saying, how much do we really know? About anyone?"

"Why does this bother you?" asked the aquatic teen, eyes shifting from Superboy's suspicious gaze to the apprentice of Flash.

"I like knowing who I'm talking about, you know?" Wally gave a little shrug. "I kind of want to diss Batman in front of Robin, but is he his father or distant cousin or what's the deal, you know?" Wally shrugged again. "I don't want to say the wrong thing, but how do you say the right thing when you don't know what the right thing to say is?"

Another heavy silence fell over the group.

"He's got a point," noted Superboy crossly. He leaned forward, shifting his weight so he could stand up. When he rose, he towered over Megan and Wally who were also upright. "I think we should do some background checks. Something so we know they aren't traitors to the Justice League."

Wally smiled, but no one saw; this was what he had been hoping for. He had just wanted someone to be on his side with figuring out what was up with Robin. Sure, the guy was his best friend, but he wanted to know more. Curiosity always ate away at Wally. Now he had three other people asking the same questions he had wanted answers to since he had met the Boy Wonder. And they all wanted the truth now.

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**A/N: Yeah, it sounds like my GR fic "Glassy Blue" but trust me, different style and work with this. I have more of a team instead of Rex vs Six. So review please and I will crank out another chapter quickly ^.^**

**~Sky**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alrighty, so another chapter of this. I found it's in high demand. Two days and almost twenty reviews. Thanks a ton. It means a lot to me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything of DC Comics.**

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"Hey, Rob?"

Robin looked over his shoulder at Wally who had just vaulted over the back of the couch to crash onto the cushions and kick his feet up on the coffee table in front of the sofa instead of going around it and just sitting down like most normal people would do. "What is it?" he asked, working on his laptop to update some of the software on his systems that had been torched by firewalls when trying to hack into the Cadmus security a few weeks ago. "Red Tornado got us a new mission?" The raven-haired teen didn't even make a move to shift his gaze to his best friend.

Wally was quiet for a few moments before saying, "Nooooo." He reached one hand up and ran it through his ginger hair before leaning over to check what his friend was doing on the small computer that sat on his lap. "Not yet anyways."

"Then whatcha need?" Robin still didn't look up from his work as he rapidly installed new firewalls and encryption codes into his suit's database. He seemed to engrossed in the computer to give much of his attention to Wally.

The older tried to find a nice way to string together the question he was trying to form. He didn't find it proper to ask outright, but beating around the bush wasn't going to get him anywhere fast. Wally decided to find a middle ground that he could step on without the floor falling though on him. "Why doesn't Batman let you tell us your name?"

The Boy Wonder still didn't look to his friend, but his answer was blunt. "Because it doesn't matter."

Pursing his lips, the speedster drank in a deep breath of the air that filled the inside of Mount Justice. His expression twisted into puzzlement as he tried to find another way to ask indirectly. He didn't want to be too straightforward and set off Robin, but he did prefer to do things quickly; this was already taking longer than he normally would've liked.

Robin's fingers clicked down the keys as he worked his way through the newest hacks he had just uploaded from the Hall of Justice's universal database. "If you're trying to get to a point, just get to it."

Wally decided to play off of what Robin had given him. As long as the younger boy was talking, the fifteen-year-old figured the ball was in his court and he was on a roll. "How does it not matter?" asked Wally, daring himself to challenge Robin's last response. "We trust you with our identities, but Batman doesn't trust us to know yours?"

"I don't know why," responded Robin. He gave a little shrug, still tapping away on the keys about as fast as Flash could run. "It doesn't bother me that you guys don't know or anything. I mean, I don't like being called Robin twenty-four seven, but I deal with it." Robin wasn't about to give Wally an honest answer, but that was the closest thing he could come up with that wasn't the complete truth. Then he threw a question right back at Wally. "Why do you want to know?"

Wally sighed, knowing Batman's protégé wasn't going to give him a straight answer. It was like the dark teen knew what his friend was doing before he even knew what he was going to do himself. To his friend he just simply replied, "I just want to know, that's all."

"Curiosity killed the cat," remarked the thirteen-year-old boy, voice almost a warning for Wally to stop before he dove in too deep. He didn't want his friend to get his hopes up on getting answers. Robin had buried all of his secrets deep underground where no one would find them unless they were looking desperately in the same way a poor pirate would search for treasure. "Don't forget that."

A thin smile crept it's way across Wally's face with a little devilish gleam in his piercing emerald eyes. He pulled his feet off the coffee table and rose to his full height, watching as Robin's hidden gaze finally redirected from the screen to his ginger-haired friend. "But I'm faster than the cat," snickered Wally before heading off to the darker corridors of Mount Justice to figure out a way to get Robin's identity out of him. And if Robin wouldn't cave, Flash's nephew would find other means. He was determined enough to do anything to get the true name of his best friend.

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**A/N: Outright didn't work. Now we go to the shadows to find a name. Review and I'll post again soon.**

**~Sky**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow. In two chapters, less than two thousand words total, I get 46 reviews. Gosh, you guys know how to make a girl update fast… Now here's the thing with this story: it's the reverse of "Glassy Blue". With "Glassy Blue", I knew where I wanted it to start, but now that it's started, I hit a standstill. With this, I know where I want it to go, I'm just not sure how to get there. So… patience?**

**Disclaimer: Does not own Young Justice or any DC Comics characters.**

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"How do you think you want to go about this?" asked Megan, her eyes intent on Wally who was splayed out across the couch comfortably. His feet were kicked up on Superboy's lap, who happened to be sitting at the opposite end of the couch that Wally's head was at. "Have you asked him?"

"Indirectly," answered the ginger. He folded his fingers behind his head and interlocked them to create something like a pillow for himself, wondering when Flash was coming to pick him up. Sure, he could go home, but it wouldn't be as much fun as it was when he could race his mentor. He was kind of anxious to get out of there. It was just him, Meg, and Supes. It was kind of weird to be with them without Robin or Aqualad, but he could deal with it well enough. "I mean, I'm not just going to go up to him and say 'Hey, Rob, whatcha doing? Playing video games? Cool. By the way, what's your real name?'" He silently sat there for a few long moments. "Unless you guys can come up with a way to ask him, I'm just gonna try and figure it out on the sly."

One of Superboy's black eyebrows shot up. "Behind his back?"

Wally's answer was one word. "Yup."

Megan leaned over Wally so that she was staring right down into his freckled face. "Isn't that a bit sneaky? He _is_ your best friend, and it's easily an invasion of his privacy to start poking around in his personal life." The girl's red mane flowed around her green skin when Wally reopened his emerald eyes.

"Yeah," he noted but didn't pause before continuing to say, "but we're looking at him because we're his friends. Sure, it's not right and all that jazz, but we're supposed to trust him with our lives. And one day, Kaldur's handing over leadership to him. We should get to know what we want to know. Why trust him if he doesn't trust us?"

Megan stared at him for a few seconds, trying to comprehend these words while Superboy piped up, finally shoving Wally's feet off of his lap, setting the boy off balance and knocking him clean off the couch with a single push. "He's right. Robin has no right to keep secrets if we're all going to be a team."

"If we're going to try subtly," began the girl as she smiled watching Wally struggle back to his feet from being tossed to the floor so abruptly, "I think we should start by attempting to read his mind."

"You're obvious about it," reminded Wally, giving her a knowing glance. It was the truth and he wasn't about to let her forget it. He didn't want the girl poking around in his mind. Too many thoughts in there he wasn't keen on her seeing. "You'd have to get him while he's sleeping or something. Even then, Robin's got his belt under his pillow. I've seen it. I tried to take it from him just to mess with it. I got whapped upside the head and then kicked really hard. I probably still have the bruise…" The speedster managed to haul himself back up on the couch with one hand while shooting the clone of the Man of Steel a harsh jade glare in the form of sharpened daggers. Of course, he knew that, realistically, the daggers wouldn't even scrape his skin. But that didn't keep his eyes from trying. "He's sort of dangerous, even when unconscious."

"It'd be safer if you didn't," said Superboy, shooting Miss M a soft smile, knowing she was only thinking of the best things for the team and such. He respected that about her. "So what other ideas do we have in mind?"

Flash's nephew ran one hand through his hair. "Well, that's why I came to you guys. I would've asked Kaldur since Robin wasn't around before, but Aquaman came and took him back to Atlantis with him until he was needed for another mission. "Robin… He kind of warned me. Or at least that's what it sounded like. Either that, or it was a threat." His jade gaze strayed to Superboy and then to Megan. The first face was passive; the second was worried.

"Robin threatened you?" she asked, a slight squeak hanging on the edge of her voice. She was concerned for the safety of her teammates. "He doesn't strike me as the type to turn on his friends. He seems so calm, so easy going. Especially around you."

"Like most thirteen-year-olds," said Kid Flash, hearing the approach of his mentor as Mount Justice's entrance announced the arrival of the hero along with his official given number. They all had one. "And he's my best friend. We're kinda supposed to be chill like that around each other."

The red-suited Flash emerged from the tunnel on the far side of the living space. "You ready to head home?" asked the fast hero, eyes finding his nephew on the couch with his two new friends nearby.

"I'll be over in a second," called the kid to his mentor. He quickly turned to Megan, knowing she could head this investigation on the sly better than Superboy would ever be able to. Then his voice lowered and he spoke to the girl in a fashion so that Flash could neither hear nor lip-read the content of the conversation."First off, let's run a computer search on thirteen-year-old kids in the Gotham area with black hair. It's a big place, but it'll be a start." He gave her a little wink before bolting off to meet up with Flash by the door. "Adios, gorgeous," he called over his shoulder to the green-skinned girl before vanishing with his uncle out of the hidden entrance of Mount Justice.

Megan looked to Superboy, eyes glazed over with evident worry. "Do you think this is the right thing?" asked the girl, gaze fixated on the clone with a glimmer of fear in it. "It feels so wrong, but I want to know just as badly as the rest of you do…"

"I've only been around for a couple of weeks." Superboy gave her the tiniest shrug and a small, sad smile. His pristine blue eyes glittered with unreadable emotions. "You're asking the wrong guy."

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**A/N: Again, this is not slash. Robin and KF are just really that close. Don't assume anything different. Anyways, review to get another chapter up soon!**

**~Sky**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So I was sort of struggling. Slight writer's block, but after this, I got it. Don't worry if this seems off topic. It's all in the scheme of things…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

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It was a mission gone wrong. Robin felt bad even returning to Mount Justice. He felt like he didn't belong there after his team had failed so miserably to take down someone so simple. It was just a basic drug dealer. A drug dealer, nothing more, nothing less. Robin felt like an idiot for even walking with these people that had contributed to the mission's flop.

Kid Flash was in right behind him with Aqualad and Miss Martian behind him. Superboy had opted to clean up the mess they had left behind. He was back at the scene of the bloody fight they had all left behind, every last one of them unscathed. "That didn't go over too well," breathed the speedster, running a red gloved hand through his ginger hair.

"That was... bad," agreed the sole girl sullenly, changing her clothes from the cape and uniform to her pink outfit that made her look more like a normal human than a crime fighting alien. "That was... really, really... bad..."

"It wasn't supposed to go down like that," growled Robin through gritted teeth, the images of blood and death in the midst of such innocence getting to his mind and playing with his head, the memories of the recent scene mixing with those of the past. "We're a team. How did we let him slip through our fingers? We should've had him!" Robin had spun on the others, chest heaving and heart pounding. His eyes were livid behind the mask that covered them; the thirteen-year-old was glad the others couldn't see how much this truly disturbed him. All the blood... All those people...

Aqualad changed out of his fiery red uniform and into his more comfortable human clothes with a touch to the small horseshoe-like symbol upon his belt. His silvery eyes watched Robin, a touch of worry glazing them the same way the shades of orange glazed the sky as sunset spreads over the land. "You're right," agreed Kaldur. "It should've played out differently. We will fix our errors for next time."

"Those people are dead," spat Robin as Kid Flash pulled the mask from his face, revealing the freckles etched out onto his cheeks. "They're all dead and it's because we screwed up." The youngest of the group turned and stalked his way into the kitchen, not once making a move to remove any of his uniform, keeping in the persona of the Boy Wonder.

The memories played across his vision clear as day. They had chased the dealer out of his corner and into the open streets that were nearby the warehouse he had been housing himself in for months to ship out his products that could've more or less had something to do with Cadmus's Blockbuster project. He had run out into the street and tugged guns out of their sleeves in his jacket and began firing into the crowds of innocent people that had just been walking along to another destination that the warehouse was in the way of. Then he had killed himself, secrets dying with the rest of his body. In the end, thirty-four bodies lay piled on top of each other in a bloody heap that Superboy had chosen to clean up.

"We're only human," said Kaldur, knowing the expression all too well only to see Robin come back at him with more rage than the dark-skinned leader had ever figured he was capable of.

"Human, are we?" snarled the dark-haired member. He stared at the three others, hidden blue eyes flaming with unstoppable rage. "Is Megan human? Are you human? How about Supes?" His eyes narrowed at his best friend. "You aren't even human anymore. I'm the only one here allowed to make mistakes. I'm the only human. The only true human here is me." His words were feral by the end of it. Fury was bubbling in his veins. He hated seeing death. All the bodies, all the blood, all the death... It was just everywhere.

Robin had decided to become the Boy Wonder to be able to stop death; he had never wanted to see it again. He had succeeded. Until today, at least.

"Man, it's over, it's done. We screwed up, life's tough." Wally pulled off his crimson gloves and tossed them onto the couch, trying to get comfortable after the fact of his friend's outrage being partially directed towards him. "We all messed up, not just you. Let it go." He flipped his hand nonchalantly, pretending like watching people die was a daily thing for him.

Truthfully, it stung every single one of them to know that something this serious happened under their watch. Pain was burrowed into Megan's heart for all the lost souls and the young children that had lost their lives. Kaldur had just never seen anyone truly killed before. It was a new experience for him. Wally was the least effected. He had adapted pretty well to anything; movies had made him passive to all things violent or massacre-like.

"Are you okay?" asked Megan, floating forward a bit to place her hand on Robin's caped shoulder gently, watching out for her youngest teammate. She had the tendency to care for anyone and everything. It was sometimes bad, but she would learn quickly enough courtesy of her team.

With a jerk away from her warm hand, Robin looked over his shoulder, firing unseen daggers in her direction. "Fine." He began to push his way to the back halls of the mountain's inner structure, feeling the urge to disappear before they began to press him. "Just call me when Batman gets here."

Wally was the last one to say anything before the Dark Knight's prodigy vanished into the utter blackness. "What is wrong with you?" called his best friend. "Why does this bug you so much?"

"They shouldn't have died." With that, Robin was gone.

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**A/N: I'm still on track with this. Don't look at it as an off-base chapter. I know what I'm doing. This is still going in the direction I want. Review please!**

**~Sky**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wow, time to get back to this. Check out my series of funny one-shots for Young Justice. It's called "Hilarity: Brought To You By Young Justice". If you like a good dose of humor, go read.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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He waited to speak for a few seconds. "Add that to the list of things to put in the search engine," said Wally once his best friend was out of earshot, his gaze flickering to Megan as he watched Robin stalk off into the darkness. He knew the protégé of Batman couldn't hear him and he took that as an advantage. "Traumatized. Probably by a murder or just blood in general."

Megan nodded quietly before heading to the backroom where she had stashed a computer that was running all of the information she had been able to gather from Robin and run it against the seven hundred thirteen-year-old boys she had found in the search engine by just pulling up the idea of black hair and the age range. Now she was working to find his height and weight, which were much, much harder to figure out.

Kaldur blinked at the two. "We're running a search?" asked the dark-skinned teen, his silver eyes finding Wally. "Why don't we just let it go? He's Robin. He's exactly as his mentor is: secretive and mysterious. It's the air that it gives them. It's part of the role they must play as heroes."

"Everyone else knows who they are but us," pointed out Wally, green gaze zeroing in on the team's current leader. "Superman knows who Batman is, but the secret is still a secret for us." He ran a hand through his ginger-colored hair while watching Megan disappear into the darkness. "We're the only ones left in the dark."

The logic in the redhead's words resonated with Kaldur; he sighed quietly while crashing on the couch. It was at that moment that Mount Justice's systems announced the arrival of Superboy and gave his number as a hero that allowed him access into their mountain hideaway. "I don't like being in the dark," muttered Kaldur, wanting answers just as much as his teammates, but trying to figure out a better way to go about it than doing things behind the Boy Wonder's back.

"What'd I miss?" asked Superboy, his crisp, piercing blue eyes directed at the only two in the room, Wally and Kaldur, as he stepped into the place he had called home. "Anything important going on around here?"

A small shrug came from Wally who was moving towards the kitchen. "Robin stormed off, Megan's working on our little project. Nothing much." He opened up the refrigerator and peered in, trying to find some food to snack on. Nothing really caught his eye. "How went the clean up?"

"Fine," replied the clone, facial features making him seem emotionless to the death he had previously been surrounded in during the clean up of their failure. The bodies hadn't bothered him much. It was only the sightless eyes that had been caught open moments before death that left him haunted. Just the memory made him want to shudder; Superboy's self-control was the only thing that kept him from showing how truly bothered he had been while cleaning up the mess of just a little slip up on the behalf of the team.

"That was quite disturbing," noted Kaldur as Superboy also crashed on the couch next to the boy with gills. "I'm not surprised Robin was so stunned with it."

"He lives in Gotham City," pointed out Wally darkly, pulling a can of grape soda from the fridge before shutting it. The ginger began making his way towards the couch again, expecting to crash between his two friends. "He should be used to death. That place is probably the most disturbed city I have ever seen."

Superboy looked over his shoulder at Wally who was now popping open the top of the can and taking a long draught. His blue eyes narrowed slightly at Wally. It had been the redhead's idea to make the clone clean up the remnants of the mission. "You would think he'd be used to it."

"But on that sort of a scale?" Kaldur was still trying to run it through his head logically. For some reason, it was hard to think of any other way to get information out of Robin without doing it behind his back. It felt wrong, but something inside of him kept begging for him to learn more on the subject of the youngest team member. "I've seen people die as well, but never on that large of a scale."

Wally pulled the can away from his lips. "It's Gotham City-"

"The city doesn't define the person, nor does it define the hero." Kaldur was trying to knock some sense into his younger friend. Of course, he should've known it was useless.

"Well, it sort of does for you and Aquaman. I'm pretty sure Batman doesn't live underwater..."

The leader felt like smacking a hand to his forehead but refrained. Instead, he sighed, trying to express his annoyance to the speedster. It was futile so he just gave up on the hope of ever teaching the fifteen-year-old how to be mature.

"It's logged into the search," Megan told the others, coming back from the shadows she had been in to feed more information to the computer that they hoped would give them the real identity of Robin. Her brown eyes shone with the disappointment of not being able to bring better news to her friends. "We're down to four hundred possibilities."

Wally thought his eyes would pop out of his head. That many boys of Robin's age had been traumatized at a young age by witnessing a murder? "Seriously?" he asked, running a hand through his hair while trying not to drop his soda with the other hand. The shock coursed through his system like he had just had an internal earthquake. "That many are left?" His jaw had dropped and if it hadn't been attached to the rest of his head, odds were good that it would've hit the floor.

Megan nodded quietly, upset that she couldn't have helped the search more. She was already trying to find more information. Even his eye color would narrow the search down to a lower number of boys in the Dark Knight's home city.

"Like you said," remarked Kaldur, silver eyes staring up at Wally with a knowing gleam in them, "it's Gotham City."

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**A/N: Now they're getting somewhere. I'm estimating on the population of Gotham to about 10 million (according to Wikipedia) and 700 sounded right, give or take… Now it's review time! The more reviews I get, the faster I will update!**

**~Sky**

**P.S. I see all you people out there that favorited this but didn't review… Now it's review time. And yes, I'm watching… So click below!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I couldn't think of anything else to write, so this came to mind.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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The team had gotten a rough verbal beat down from Batman when he came to conference them. He had lectured on how to keep a criminal inside to prevent such tragedies as the one the team had experienced. Robin was there, accepting his punishment just like the rest. He had come out of hiding as soon as the systems of Mount Justice had announced his arrival.

It was two days later when they had to follow the parts of Ivo's newest monster that would send them to Gotham, the place with some of the worst bad guys the team could ever imagine.

"Dude, they're at my school!"

Kid Flash wasn't about to say anything. He was quiet for a long moment before speeding up a bit, trying to get to the school faster. He would radio the name of the school to Megan if she could get back to Mount Justice faster than he could to punch it into the server that they were using for the sole purpose of tracking Robin. He made sure to keep a mental note of the name of the school. Gotham City Academy. He hopefully wouldn't forget that. He couldn't forget it.

When he and Robin got into the school to aid Superboy, he saw the size of the place and the elegance of it. Robin was brilliant, anyone could tell that. This school was clearly for higher class people of higher stature and standing. For people like Bruce Wayne to be sending kids to, if he had any. Kid Flash kept the name of the school running in his mind as fast as he could run, determined not to forget it.

As soon as the fight had ended and things had wrapped up, he took Miss Martian off to one side. "M, this is Robin's school."

The girl's brown eyes widened. "This is-"

"Yeah," said the speedster, trying to keep her from repeating it. Robin was very good at multitasking and he didn't want the Boy Wonder to overhear the conversation. He had a bad habit of sneaking around and being where he was unwanted sometimes. "Just don't forget Gotham City Academy. Don't forget it."

Miss Martian's eyes widened a bit more. She nodded, feeling how serious this was. "This'll narrow it down even more."

Kid Flash nodded sullenly, watching over his shoulder for Robin to show up at any moment. The redhead was worried that his best friend would show up and they would get caught sneaking around like bandits trying to make away with cash. "If I had to guess, this place has about two hundred students tops. Now if this is his school-"

"We're looking at a list of about twenty students," finished Miss Martian, staring past Kid Flash at Robin who was running more messed up words by Superboy who just nodded like he was actually listening.

"Exactly." The boy's eyes zeroed in on the green girl. "Don't forget. Gotham City Academy."

"Gotham City Academy," she repeated, nodding vigorously.

"You guys flirting it up over here?"

The voice of Robin spooked Kid Flash into turning, his emerald orbs wide with shock and fear. Something told him Robin hadn't heard the conversation according to his comment. "Yeah, she's pretty, right? I'm trying to get her on a date, but she's not exactly making it too easy on me," he remarked as the green girl stalked away towards Aqualad and Superboy, muttering the same three words under her breath, determined not to forget. She wouldn't forget. The rest of the team was counting on her to remember. Gotham City Academy.

She wouldn't forget.

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**A/N: I ran into a time crunch. But the next one will be longer. I'll be sure of it. In the meantime, reviews are welcomed.**

**~Sky**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm trying to get caught up. I like this. It's entertaining to write. Somewhat addictive, but also entertaining. And since this is in such high demand, I'll give you another chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Young Justice or any associated DC characters.**

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Robin got into the Batmobile, his mentor already in the driver's seat and flooring the gas before his apprentice was even fully buckled. The vehicle surged off at alarming speeds, racing down the open roadway from the hidden entrance of Mount Justice. "How's the team thing working for you?" asked the Dark Knight, his dark eyes not finding the young boy beside him. His gaze remained out the window.

"It's harder than going around with you," replied Robin, his eyes flitting to Batman. The muscular vigilante was focused on the road that stretched out ahead of the car. "I honestly prefer just the Dynamic Duo in comparison to being with everyone else."

"And?"

Robin's hidden eyes found his mentor's questioning expression. "And what? I just don't like being with others when it comes down to crime fighting. If I had a choice for social club, I'd be with them all the time." He leaned a bit towards the window, away from his mentor. The light of the street and the moon's ominous glow shone off of his pale face. "It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I don't li-"

"Richard." Batman's voice was harsh around the edges and as hard as stone. He was serious. He hardly ever said the young boy's full first name like that. "Tell me what's really on your mind. I raised you as my son. I know when something is wrong with you." The man in black looked to the boy, his hidden gaze concerned for his ward. "I'm a detective, remember? I'm supposed to know these things."

The corners of the boy's lips curled up to form a small smile on Robin's face. His orbs of pristine blue stared out the window as he peeled off his mask for a moment and replaced it with his dark sunglasses. "They're running a search on my name," said the Boy Wonder, his mind already whirling with the facts that Wally and the rest of the team had been able to gather. He was surprised that they had been able to gather so much on him.

Batman didn't take any time in worrying. Well, maybe not worrying, but at least something close to it. He knew how Robin's identity being discovered would lead to his own identity being found. It wasn't a hard connection to make and he knew how the young team would react when they found out some things that he wasn't too keen on them knowing about himself and his protégé. "How did you find out?"

"I'm a master hacker. I learned from the best." A cocky smile spread across the ward's face. His blue eyes were alight with amusement beneath his dark sunglasses. "They're running it through a computer in the back systems of the hideout. It's virtually obsolete, but I like checking the systems every day for any sort of firewall breach. And that computer was locked with a password. None of them are locked with a password. Instead, they're all encrypted. So I hacked the password-"

"And found a search-"

"With the heading of 'Finding Robin'," the kid finished for his father figure. They were so connected in their minds that they were able to finish each other's sentences. It was strange how close they were for being so different in many ways. "They're trying to figure out my real name because you won't let me tell them."

There was a silence for a few moments. "Do you want to tell them?"

The question surprised Robin, catching him off guard. Batman was the one who made the decisions, not his apprentice. Robin had never been able to make his own decisions. He followed the lead his teacher laid before him like an obedient dog, never once breaking the rules. He opened his mouth for a moment to think of a response, trying to find the words that were just out of his grasp.

"The decisions are hard, aren't they?" Batman answered before giving Robin a chance to speak and answer. "You don't know what the consequences are yet. Either everything could change or nothing at all."

Instead of looking at Batman, the Boy Wonder's sky-colored gaze strayed out the window, watching the city pass by in the blink of an eye. Sometimes, being such a hero made the world seem small. Then again, being a kid made the world seem big. Somewhere in the middle was Robin. "You're always making the decisions for me."

Without missing a beat, the older of the two let the subject of Robin's freedom drop. "How close are they?" The Batmobile curved around a corner, the sleek black vehicle gliding around the corner. The whole thing drove like a dream. It was the way it had been designed.

"Don't worry." The boy's voice was calm as he fingered his black hair, the color of ebony. "I'm better than you think I am with keeping my secrets a secret." His signature cackle rang through the interior of the car, making a knowing smile spread across the features of the Dark Knight.

The conversation died there with a comfortable tone set, the Batmobile still flying down the streets as the two occupants fell quiet once more. Robin had the consequences of his actions on his mind. Batman didn't need to think. He just drove. That was all he ever had to do.

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**A/N: I'm happy with this. I like changing the perspective for this chapter. Reviews are gladly appreciated. Short, sorry, but I like it.**

**~Sky**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Be sure that you reread Chapter 7 before reading this one. Minor edits had to be made. Thank you to JakeFL for correcting my mistake, despite the fact that I only hinted at it. Haha. Glad I got that fixed before I started.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DC Comic characters.**

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Wally had a hand on his best friend's shoulder as the two plodded down the street, just getting out of the new team's headquarters for a few hours. "Dude, I'm serious, the beach is exactly what we need." He waved one hand out in front of his friend as if painting a sunset in front of the smaller boy. "Tans and surfing. And Megan in a bikini." Wally's grin seemed to substantially widen with that. "Man, you need a day at the beach. Most definitely."

Robin had his hands in his pockets, his mind elsewhere. He wasn't sure why he couldn't stay focused lately, but he kept finding it harder and harder to keep his mind on one thing. He had never had a completely one-track mind, but he had always had a good amount of focus. Now his thoughts drifted off to other things too often for his liking.

"Rob, beach." The ginger snapped in front of the boy's hidden eyes. "Come on, man. You're acting like Superboy when he wants to hit someone but he can't decide who."

His glasses were dark and he hardly processed the motion in front of his vision, but the sound dragged him out of his unnatural stupor. "Wally, I don't need to hit the beach."

"But I won't be there with school and all," noted the speedster hopefully, a scheming smile on his freckled face. "You can have Meg all to yourself. Well, mostly. Just ignore Supey and she's all yours." His grin widened even more, which Robin didn't even think was physically possible.

"I don't need any sun," said Robin as he stretched his arms to the giant yellow orb in the sky that beat down rays of heat upon the world. "I like being pale. It's easier." His hidden eyes flitted to his friend, trying to read what Wally was getting at.

Lately, it had been almost like Wally and Megan were doing virtually anything to find out a little something more about Robin. The thirteen-year-old found it ridiculous. They asked his favorite food and allergies and anything of the likes to find out more about him. Robin was getting a bit sick of it, hating all the questions. Superboy was the only one who wasn't harassing him. He was totally impassive, as always. Kaldur was at least doing it discreetly. Needless to say, Robin still noticed. He had figured it out all too soon.

"Aw, Rob, you should really get a tan. You look like a ghost half the time," whined Kid Flash, the sun's golden tendrils catching his hair the color of flames and making it seem alive with fire.

"And I kind of like that," snickered Robin, blinking a few times as he kept trying to work out what his friend's tactic was on this one. "Being a ghost is part of the image. Or at least being a phantom is. You know, disappear into the night without a sight or a sound." Robin's hidden gaze flickered to his older friend. "It's kind of what Batman trained me to do."

Wally huffed for a second, mind wrapping around another idea. "Well, you could at least go out with sunscreen and take off those stupid sunglasses. They're dumb." The ginger fixed his messy blue shirt that had gotten slightly rumpled from walking around the city that surrounded Mount Justice. "I mean, who wears sunglasses inside?"

"I do," snorted Robin, raising one eyebrow at his friend. It was a dumb thing for his friend to do by just saying that. "I like my sunglasses, thank you very much."

"Do you wear them to school?" asked Flash's protégé, now turning around and walking backwards in front of Robin so that they were nearly face-to-face except for the slight height difference. That didn't bother Kid Flash in the slightest. He was fine looking down at his friend. What he hated was looking up at Superboy and feeling horribly afraid of the clone. Looking down at Robin was actually a relief.

Robin's reply was terse and held an impatient undertone. "No."

This made Wally's lips twist up in confusion. He mulled over this for a few long moments while he turned again to continue walking alongside of Robin who had picked up the pace that they were walking at by just a little bit. It didn't bother the speedster. He liked fast. He always liked fast.

"Have you ever counted crows?"

Robin's quiet question caught Kid Flash's ear, but just barely. The redhead actually had to replay the soft voice of his friend in his head to be sure he had even really heard Robin speak. "Huh?" asked the freckled-faced boy, his head turning so that he was looking right at his friend as the two walked side-by-side.

"Have you ever counted crows?" repeated the younger of the two teens. Robin's face had the beginnings of a smile on them, but it was hardly there. It was like a ghost upon his lips, barely visible at all.

Wally's response was a cautious "No..." He raised one eyebrow to his best friend while navigating around a larger woman who was sharing the sidewalk with them but moving in the opposite direction. "What about it?"

Robin's head tilted in the direction diagonally ahead of him and slightly off to his left. "Crows," he said.

A pair of emerald orbs found the black birds strung out across a wire, black wings glinting in the nearly blinding sunlight like a piece of obsidian shimmering under the glow of the moon. Wally had to look at the birds a bit closely to be sure that they were really crows instead of ravens or other scavenging birds. He didn't even get to say anything about the presence of the crows before Robin was uttering a rhyme.

"One for sorrow, two for joy, three for girls, four for boys, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told."

Wally's green gaze flitted to Robin who just kept walking. Then the boy's eyes went back to the crows, and he began counting. When he found there were seven, his brow knitted. "A secret never to be told," he said, recalling the last line of the rhyme that Robin had said. Then the ginger's head turned to look at his pale-skinned friend.

Robin was gone, bolting ahead to get back to Mount Justice. A call must've come through because Wally could tell by the way that his young friend was running that this was no joke.

So the speedster ran at a normal speed to catch up with his ebony-haired friend, casting one last glance at the dark birds perched along the wire. Only this time, Wally saw a single crow on the cable that stretched between two telephone poles. He didn't have time to recollect the beginning of the rhyme to find out what one crow meant.

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**A/N: Cookies to anyone who can give me the song that this rhyme is referenced in (lyrics aren't exact to the original rhyme). Anyways, don't forget to review or I shall set my ninjas on you. And I want to hear more than just "Update soon!" This site is for writing critique, and I want to hear what I could be doing better.**

**~Sky**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Credit due to those of you who picked up on the song ("A Murder of One" by Counting Crows) and/or mentioned the rhyme that this was an altered version of. And that's where I first heard of it too, POMForever. I just heard the song, and I actually tried to find my copy of the book, but came up unsuccessful…**

**Anyways, thanks again for the constructive criticism. The only real thing I saw commonly was the fact that my chapters are too short. The way I write, these are actually very, very long compared to all my other stories…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any DC Comic characters.**

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"Oh, sorry," said Megan sheepishly, brushing a bit of her reddish hair from her deep brown eyes that glowed like puddles of mud in pale light. "I must've accidentally hit my communicator by mistake." A little smile spread across her face with the tiniest traces of guilt in it. "I didn't mean to call you guys. It was an error. My bad." She continued to run a finger through her auburn hair, trying to look as innocent as possible.

From running all the way back to Mount Justice from almost six and a half miles away, Robin fell on the floor, his chest heaving. He was usually fine with running, but he was built more for sprints and quick motions. He had never been meant for long-term running like his best friend had. He propped himself up with one elbow before staring up at the two redheads with his lungs still begging and pleading desperately for air. "Megan, can you try to not do that again?"

"Yeah, Megan," mimicked Wally, his emerald eyes not filled with hatred, but just with a wanting to get on the good side of his youngest friend again. He knew he and Robin were already getting into some bad blood and it scared him to think that just this one investigation could push him so far from the only guy he had ever been able to call his best friend. Sure, the speedster was close with Supey and Kaldur, but he had always been tight with Robin. They had been joined at the hip ever since their mentors had introduced them.

"Here," began the green-skinned girl, grasping the ginger's hand in her own less than a second before tugging him off towards the kitchen, "Wally and I will get you some water." The girl was floating away, dragging the half scared emerald-eyed boy behind her with his heels digging into the linoleum flooring.

Robin wanted to ask a question to the girl as she dragged off the speedster, but his mouth was too dry to speak. How come it suddenly took two people to get water? He was pretty sure that it usually only took one…

"Meg- Wha- What's goin-"

"Wally," said Megan, working to find a glass out of all the cabinets that were placed along the walls of the kitchen space that they had. Her deep brown gaze flitted towards where Robin lay gasping for oxygen that would keep filling his lungs quickly before he would once more exhale it back out into the environment. "I got some help from some of Robin's equipment that Superboy and Kaldur helped me borrow-"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked over his shoulder at Robin. Then his gaze flickered back to Megan who had successfully found a glass and was taking her sweet time to fill it with water. "You stole his equipment?" asked the freckle-faced teen as his jaw began to drop towards the floor.

This was getting a bit out of hand. He had never meant for it to go that far. He had never meant for it to get so dangerous. They were on the verge of getting caught and Wally knew this wasn't good. He hadn't wanted it to go down this road. He had only wanted for it to go to the point until they got a name. He hadn't wanted to think of theft. It wasn't on his to-do list. And he didn't want to be on Robin's bad side, but that was the track he was heading down.

Megan nodded as if this information was urgent. "We rigged the training pad to register weight. That was all we needed and we put the rest of his things back where we got them. Don't worry, Superboy and Kaldur took care of the clean up. He'd never know we were in there." The glass of water was almost filled. She had to speak faster. "We just need to get him on the pad tomorrow when Black Canary calls us to training and we have to put him against someone who could keep him there for a while. You or Superboy should do. As long as he's on there and in one place for about ten seconds without moving, we'll have his weight and we'll most likely have his name."

Something in that last sentence made the boy feel less guilty. It was like the thought of a mission accomplished. He would finally have what he wanted. All he wanted was a name. A single name was all he craved. Two words that formed a name. That was the treasure that Wally was after. This was his quest and the name of his best friend would be his prize. But to what consequence?

When his mind zapped back to reality, Wally saw Megan disappearing into the other room. He moved his way over to the doorway and poked his head around the frame to see Robin reaching up to take the glass of water from the green girl. His eyes were watching patiently as his friend took the glass and tipped it back, the clear liquid running down his throat and taking away his painful thirst.

The redhead took a deep breath and watched the two as the girl stopped floating. She stood for a moment as Robin moved into a sitting position with his legs spread apart and bent at the knee. One of his elbows rested politely on his kneecap while the other was tilting back the glass for another drink. The hood of his hoodie was crooked, falling over one of his scrawny shoulders instead of straight down his back like it was supposed to.

Megan moved and knelt down in front of him, immediately talking. Her hands moved in different directions and she was gesturing wildly as the ebony-haired teen was draining the water.

Wally picked up the word "sorry" multiple times in the soft and ever sweet voice of Megan, and he couldn't help but fold his arms across his chest and smile as he saw Robin watching her behind his darkly shaded glasses. For some reason, the scene was almost peaceful.

Somewhere deep inside of Wally, his heart and head knew what was wrong. He knew what was going on. A fear inside of him was that he would lose his friend forever. Something else inside of him was begging for answers. He was all twisted up inside, but no decisions would or could be made. He was afraid, but it wouldn't stop him from wanting answers. Wally always craved his answers.

Robin's eyes weren't on Megan. They were on Wally. His hidden, pale sapphire orbs were caught on the redhead that hid near the doorway, just in sight but never out of mind. Robin knew it only took one person to get water. He also knew it only took one person to break down the walls he had built up over the years. He already knew Megan was the first person. She had gotten him water.

But Robin was afraid that Wally would be the one to rip down the walls.

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**A/N: I hope that was longer. At least a little bit. Reviews are welcomed and make me update faster.**

**~Sky**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This plot still has me by the throat… Okay, I forgot to mention this back when the review originally came in, but thanks to Just A Girl With A Keyboard for catching the dramatic irony in Chapter 6. No one else did and I found it strange that you were the only one to note it in a review. Lol. Thank you!**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own DC Comics. If I did, would I really be here? Also, Artemis will not appear in this series. Sorry. She just doesn't fit in with it all.**

**Warning: I am not good with fight scenes, so please try to be patient…**

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"Training," came the voice of Black Canary that followed a ready banging on the door that Superboy was sleeping behind. "Let's go, boy." And she moved on, already hearing the ringing of Mount Justice letting in Robin and Wally, both suited up and ready for their instruction. The two were waiting out in the training area when Megan emerged right behind the blonde woman that was their battle teacher.

Superboy, rousing himself, managed to haul some pants onto his body and swipe a shirt that he hoped was clean off the floor before ducking out into the area where he knew he would have to work today. He was only a minute or so behind the green girl and appeared just seconds before Aqualad came in. "So we're all here," he said before pulling on the shirt. It smelled like old, cold sweat. Apparently, his piles of clean clothes and dirty clothes had gotten mixed up somewhere along the line…

"Who's up first?" asked Black Canary, stepping onto the blue platform as it registered her as the teacher. "M'gann?" The woman's blue-gray eyes found the red-haired girl who stood against one wall, almost in the shadows. "Would you like to go first?"

The girl was about to open her mouth and avoid the question entirely when Kaldur saved her. "I wanted to go against Superboy," said the Atlantean as he flexed his arms as if preparing. "If that would be alright with you, Black Canary." The dark-skinned teen never lost his polite manner.

Without saying a word, Black Canary nodded, stepping off the platform with a slight grace in her step. She watched the two get on, both with fists raised and eyes determined. They stood opposite of each other, ready to go. "Fight," said Dinah, tone neutral because she knew the boys would go at it a lot, each being of about equal strength.

Superboy was the first to make a move. He charged blindly, Kaldur stepping out of the way with ease before slamming a fist into the clone's back. Superboy wasted no time in turning, his feet skidding across the platform with ease. He watched quietly past Kaldur as Megan stepped away, into the shadows. Someone had to be on the computers to see the readings. And she was the one who knew how it was all going to work. Technology had never been her forte, but she knew Kaldur and Superboy wouldn't be able to do any better.

The clone took another charge at the gilled boy; this time, his fist connected with Kaldur's arm as the Atlantean had tried to slip out of the way unsuccessfully. He was thrown slightly off balance, one foot not getting the right edge he wante-

Without a second thought, Superboy was all over Kaldur, his hits not malicious, but definitely intentional to knock down the other teen. He watched as Kaldur slipped below his grasp and managed to clip the back of his knee with the heel of his foot, but just that little bit of weight transfer from Kaldur had given the clone just the right opportunity to thrush his palm into the chest of Aqualad and the dark-skinned teen went down on his back, the pad instantly registering him as a fail.

"Fair enough," remarked Aqualad, taking the hand that Superboy offered to haul himself up off the ground. "You win."

"Next up," began the trainer, "M'g-"

"I want to fight Robin next," said Superboy, trying to cover for Miss Martian who had disappeared into the deeper shadows to hide the soft light of the computer's glowing screen. He couldn't let Black Canary see that Megan had left the area. The clone motioned with two fingers for the ebony-haired thirteen-year-old to step forward into the ring.

Kid Flash couldn't help but watch and hope that this worked. He was ready to find out a real name instead of getting a number of names. The list was still at twenty people. He wanted a smaller number. This could be the moment of truth.

"Fine," said the blonde woman, watching Robin step out onto the training pad. "Fight."

Instead of making any sudden motions, Superboy stood with his fists raised and his eyes alert. He knew he had to hold Robin still to have Megan get the reading.

To his surprise, Robin moved first anyways. The smaller boy flitted to one side of the clone, working to get his bearings and to watch the larger teen try to turn slowly. The young kid knew how larger, bulkier baddies worked. Superboy wasn't a baddie, but he was still larger and still had the same inability of possessing agility.

Superboy turned only to find that Robin wasn't there anymore. He turned his head to the other side to get a square kick in the face from Robin's metal-plated combat boot. He had to take a step or two back to regain a sense of motion and to try and stop his head from ringing.

"This might not go as well as we had planned," muttered Kid Flash to Kaldur who had stepped beside him. His green eyes followed the movements of Robin all around Superboy as the larger of the two tried to move just to find him. "It looks like Rob is kicking Supey's butt…"

The amphibian boy nodded quietly beside Wally, watching the fight resume at it's lighting fast pace.

Another kick had landed on Superboy's back and the clone roared with rage as he nearly lost his balance, almost falling. He didn't want to be failed. Especially not against _Robin_. The kid was only human. He had nothing at all. Just martial arts against brute strength. How come Superboy couldn't land a single hit?

Before he knew what happened, Robin's fist slammed right into the corner of Superboy's jaw, shifting all his weight onto one foot. The second Robin ducked down low and swept a foot beneath the leg that was holding all of the clone's weight, the larger boy went down. The training pad registered a fail upon the ebony-haired brute. All he heard from Robin was a quiet little "Gotcha."

"Me next," said Kid Flash, stepping onto the pad as Superboy stood and hauled himself away over towards Aqualad who now had his arms folded across his chest. The chances of this working were looking slim and horrible now…

Black Canary, almost wondering what was going on with these kids, looked to the ginger that pushed his way to the training pad and stood on it now. Her cloudy sapphire eyes watched the two, each standing still with their arms at their sides. "Fight."

Kid Flash just stared down his best friend. His mind had been counting how long Robin had been standing still. He watched with eager eyes, hoping that Robin would hold still long enough… Eight seconds…

Robin flashed out, darting forward to at least make an attempt to hit the redhead that he had been put up against. He didn't know why training wasn't going like it normally would, but he was eager for a good fight. He moved right past Kid Flash who had ducked out of the way without a second thought. "Speed versus agility in a battle of wits," remarked Robin, hearing Wally running behind him. The boy managed to spring over the head of his friend in a flip, his hands pounding against the ground followed quickly by another flip to land him on his feet.

Eyes ablaze with hope of keeping Robin still, the speedster tried to stay put, hoping Robin would do the same. Wally started counting in his head once more. He took one step towards Robin. His friend didn't move. Five seconds… He took another step slowly and deliberately. Seven seconds…

Robin lunged to one side as if expecting Wally to come at him any moment. Seeing his friend still standing there, Robin rose to his feet again. "Come on, man, fight like you mean it," hissed the ebony-haired one, his masked features daring the green-eyed boy to come at him. "Fight like you actually wanna hit me."

This was annoying Kid Flash. It was either Robin wouldn't hold still or he instigated him to move. The kid was like a ticking time bomb, always waiting for another motion. "Just hold still," huffed the redhead.

"Says the guy with super speed," snorted Robin.

Wally took this into account. If one way didn't work, he'd have to try it another. The speedster raced at his companion, only to watch the younger boy once more flip out of the way. This made his blood boil a bit. Agility versus speed and no one was going to land a hit.

Just as Robin had landed safely once more, his blue eyes flitted up to his attacker and-

A gloved fist clipped his shoulder and another hit the right side of his chest. Robin had to take a step back to regain his footin-

Another punch got his collarbone. "Dude, now we're talking," snickered Robin, finally feeling like this fight could get somewhere. He lightly bounced out of the way of the next punch only to see Kid Flash charging again in the same way that Superboy had against Aqualad. Kid Flash managed to hit him with one hand while Robin's gloved fist grabbed the other. From there, it didn't take long for Robin to swing out of the way of another punch.

Simply growing furious with the whole thing, Wally took advantage of the way Robin had his hand upon his opponent's. The speedster whipped his hand downward, using his speed to slam the younger boy onto the floor with a loud _thwunk!_

Robin didn't move for a few seconds. Wally wasn't even counting. He just stared down at his friend, upset that he hadn't beaten him sooner. The redhead's chest was heaving as the blood surged through his system faster than it should have. He just stared at his best friend who was laying on the training pad with his head on the ground.

"Got it," came the nearly inaudible whisper of Megan from the shadows. Only Kaldur heard her over the fierce breathing of Robin and Wally.

Robin still wasn't getting up.

"Dude, you alright?" asked Kid Flash, offering a hand out to his friend as the training pad's grade of the ebony-haired teen's failure disappeared.

An obviously pained wince spread across the younger's features as he struggled to reach up to take Wally's offer of help. "Yeah, I'll live," he said with a cough as he managed to get to his feet. "Just don't do that again."

He hadn't meant to hurt him that badly. It had just happened. "Man, I'm sorry, I didn-"

A small smile played across Robin's face as he stretched towards the sky, hoping that would take away some of the pain that was spreading through his back from where his best friend had thrown him so fiercely into the floor. "Just don't do it again," he repeated a bit softer. "You might kill me next time."

"Robin, go get Batman to take you back to Gotham. You should make sure nothing's serious." The woman in the room wasn't afraid to let the kids know that she was going to watch over them. Black Canary, finally stepping into the ring for the second time of the day, declared, "No more one-on-one, you got that?" Her scolding gaze found the ginger boy in the room. "Someone's going to get seriously hurt."

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**A/N: Longer. Does that make y'all happy? And my fight scenes… There are reasons I don't do fight scenes, okay? Haha. Hope it was alright. Be sure to leave a review. Constructive criticism must be necessary here with my weak point and all…**

**~Sky**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long. And I see all of you favoriting this out there. Now why aren't y'all reviewing? Anyways, thanks to everyone who is reviewing! Means a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any DC Comic characters.**

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"Three?" came the irritated yell of Wally as his hands raked through his flame-colored hair. His knuckles were slightly whitened from the way he was clutching at his red locks. "Three left?"

Megan, cringing away from him slightly whenever he paced close to her, nodded quietly with a scared frown planted upon her lips. "I put the numbers Robin gave us from the training pad, after subtracting your weight, in a range of ten in either direction of negative or positive, figuring the data in the system can't be too awfully recent. And we're down to three names out of the twenty that we had before." The green-skinned girl had a keyboard in her lap as the giant television screen in front of her splayed out the stats of the three thirteen-year-old boys they had narrowed the original list down to.

"Why can't you just put in his exact weight?" growled Wally, his overly eager nature getting the better of him as he watched intently over the alien girl's shoulder for any changes in the stats like they would drop to one name any second. He wanted answers and he wanted them now. "Why is there a range?"

"The validity of the data was only good when this was last updated, which I couldn't find. If it was a year ago, five or six pounds could've been added. Maybe more. And besides, Robin's got enough muscle to count for a lot of the weight. For being so small, he's about as strong as Black Canary." The auburn-haired girl brushed a few stray strands of her crimson mane behind one ear. "I wish I could do more, but this is the best we've got for now. I'm really sorry, Wally."

Irritation was flooding off of the speedster in waves. He was so annoyed with all of this. They had fought Robin, and might have severely injured him for all they knew, only to get a list of three names. Three. He had been hoping for a single name at the end of all this. He had wanted one name, not three. One. Wally snorted angrily, hot air blowing from his nostrils as he once more paced away from Megan who sat in the chair close to the massive screen. "What else can we do? His height?"

"All three boys are too close to the same height," said Megan, her big, deep brown eyes quickly skimming over the stats that played out before her in blue and white letters, each reading numbers and letters and colors and names and offenses and parents and birthmarks and history and everything else that could possibly matter in identifying someone. "If we got a measurement on Robin and it isn't clear-"

"We'd get the wrong one," Wally finished, knowing exactly what she had been about to say. He ran his fingers through his hair again, this time a bit calmer as he kept drinking in the cold, dank air of Mount Justice. His mind whirled, desperate to find another possibility. Anything at all. He just wanted a name. All Wally wanted was a single name. Three were on the screen in front of his favorite girl, not one.

"Nothing yet?" asked Superboy, appearing from the open doorway as if coming out of thin air, his arms folded across his chest as he leaned against the wall off to one side. His blue eyes scanned over the twitching body of the anxious Wally West as he fidgeted to no end.

"Nothing," said Megan, fingers flitting over the keyboard as she let her eyes search each general profile for any difference that would be easy to find upon the features of their Robin in comparison to the others. "I'm still stuck at three."

"Are any of them particularly fond of sunglasses?" suggested the ebony-haired clone with the faintest of grins, finally taking it upon himself to step forward and help Megan with the search of the real identity of their youngest member. He placed his hands firmly on the back of the chair she sat in, making it rock back slightly. Megan shifted, and he couldn't help but smile. She didn't miss a beat, her fingers still flying across the keyboard and her eyes still searching the screen for a difference.

"That wouldn't be on here," said the girl, voice holding the slight hint of a breath as a smile slid across her lips. "But if it was, I'm pretty sure we'd have him by now."

Kaldur, having been watching the hideout's main door for either Aquaman or Flash, buzzed into the computer's communication system. His dark-skinned face and pale hair and sharp features appeared in a box in the upper right hand corner of the screen Megan was working on.

"Flash?" asked the said hero's nephew, the young boy instantly alert. This had to be covert and he didn't want his uncle to find out and alert Batman. Because everyone knew that Batman and Robin were like father and son: what one knew, the other soon figured out through instinct.

Aqualad just nodded, trying not to tip off the red-suited man behind him of the spying that was going on behind the closed doors of Mount Justice's inner caverns.

With a heavy sigh, Wally's shoulders slumped. He looked at the screen, still seeing three names there. Three. Not one. Three. "Out in a sec," mumbled the ginger before standing up straight again with a certain reluctance.

The communications shut off and Aqualad's face disappeared from the screen.

"Thanks, Meg," muttered the young speedster, approaching behind the girl with the mane of fire. "For everything." He quietly leaned down a bit and pressed his lips to her temple in a grateful way. It was the least he could do to thank her for all she was doing for him to help in the search of Robin's real name. He felt like saying thanks wasn't enough for what Miss Martian was doing for him.

"Go, Wally," urged the girl, a smile tugging up at the corners of her mouth. "Flash awaits."

It only took a second for Wally to leave the room and get to his uncle, the kid's other identity preceding him. Kid Flash. The speed was nice. He only wished the search was going faster.

Megan, smile still lingering on her face, was glad that Wally was at least trying to show how thankful he was. She wasn't interested in him the same way he liked her, but the gesture he had given was almost brotherly in a sweet sort of way.

Superboy wasn't exactly thrilled, but he dealt with it. "Think we'll ever find him?" he asked the girl, taking a loose strand of the green-skinned girl's auburn locks and putting it back into place with the rest of them.

"He might tell us before we find it ourselves," said the girl glumly, tilting her head back so that she stared up into the clone's gorgeous sapphire eyes. Her fingers pulled away from the keyboard so she could just bask in the beauty of those ocean-colored orbs. "But I'm pretty sure we'll get his name eventually."

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**A/N: Anyone else losing hope? Other than Wally and Megan? Haha! Anyways, reviews are appreciated. Review and I shall love you forever!**

**~Sky**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: It's almost funny how you guys either hate Wally for prying into Robin's personal life or you're totally rooting for him to find out who Robin is. There really isn't much middle ground when I look at the reviews...**

**Onto the story: originally, this was longer, but I kind of had to take stuff out after thinking it over fully. So sorry if the flow is a little awkward. I fixed it up the best I could. Also, I haven't quite gotten Kaldur's personality down right, so be patient with me. Please.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

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After Aquaman had called in several hours later saying that he was late and that Aqualad would have to spend the night at Mount Justice due to a mission in the Indian Ocean, the merman's apprentice headed back into the depths of the headquarters of the new team. He had always known that most of the Justice League thought of Aquaman as an overconfident and sometimes stupid man, but the young boy had always thought well of his king. Until it took him five hours to call and say he was going to be late. Kaldur, of course, still looked up to the King of Atlantis, but he found it slightly harder to do so.

Superboy opened one eye from his long rest in a chair beside the door. His sky blue gaze caught on the dark-skinned leader that had pushed his way into the shadow-filled room. "Mentor not show?" asked the clone, shutting his eye once more and widening his senses just in case Aquaman did decide to come back. The aquatic royal was quite a butt-monkey.

"He said I should stay here for the night," Aqualad said, trying to defend his king. "He is on a mission across the globe."

"Five hours later?" asked Megan, glancing over one shoulder. It was the first time she had pulled her eyes away from the screen for two hours. Superboy had brought her a yogurt and some a hotdog (after accidentally blowing up three of them in the microwave, but Superboy figured Megan didn't need to know that tiny detail) and as she turned around this time, she realized that she couldn't see in the darkness behind her. The whole room was filled with shadows of black except for where the light of the massive screen chased away those black shapes that clung to the walls. "Took him a little while."

Aqualad almost opened his mouth to defend Aquaman but knew that would do nothing. His teacher was nearly impossible to defend in such a situation. He knew that his teammates would beat him in this argument. Instead, the Atlantean let the subject switch over to the matter at hand. "How are we doing?" he asked, staring up at the massive screen that hung well above their heads as files and words and information filed past in organized clumps.

"Well, Wally's furious because we have three names left," breathed Megan, putting down the keyboard on the large wooden desk that sprawled out in front of her. She turned the chair so that she was no longer looking at the screen. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness as she continued. "I'm working through all the data on them and trying to get done with it all because it's ridiculously jammed with _everything_." She shook her head slightly. "Traumatized kids come with a lot of paperwork."

Superboy just listened to the other two talk while he mulled in his own peaceful silence. He liked listening instead of being involved. Talking peacefully was too much work.

"What are the names?" asked Kaldur, his silvery gaze flitting up to the screen. He folded his arms across his chest and stared up at the glowing blue screen as files continued to shuffle despite the fact that Megan wasn't touching anything.

"Richard Grayson, Matthew Fridner, and Gerard Drew," the young woman in the room recited as if those three names were seared into her mind by a branding iron. She had been flipping through their files to sort the mountains of data now for a while with only a few breaks.

Kaldur let this information sink into his brain, drinking in what he could get. His muscles were slightly tensed. "And we are sure that he is on this list?" questioned the marine teen.

"Unless I should broaden the range that I adapted to his weight, I'm almost positive one of these three is him." Megan turned back to the screen, watching the computer sort files into more and more detailed specifics. Maybe if she were lucky, she'd be able to get the final answer of Robin's true identity.

Kaldur nodded, just hoping that the range she had set up was good enough to zero in on Robin's real name.

"Can't we just compare pictures?" questioned Superboy, finally breaking into the conversation. As much as he liked listening to the two of them sound logical, he felt the need to throw in his two-pence on the subject. "Not many guys can look like Robin. We've got our own brains. Computers can't do everything for us."

Megan sighed and spun her chair so that she was able to see Superboy's burly form in the dark shadows that hung upon the room like black curtains. "Our only problem with that is-"

"We have not seen Robin without his sunglasses or mask on," interrupted Aqualad, giving an apologetic glance to the green-skinned girl. He also sighed and let his arms hang to his sides. For some reason, he had felt that this should've been easier. But some of it had seemed too easy. The aquatic hero figured it must've been their karma catching up to them.

"How would we know what he looks like unless we've seen him without them on?" continued Megan gently. She didn't want to tell Superboy he was wrong. He wasn't. He just wasn't thinking as deeply as she and Kaldur were. "He could have green eyes like Wally or blue eyes like you or silver like Kaldur or brown like me. That can change everything in someone's face. And we haven't seen him enough in his civilian clothes to know what we'd be looking for anyways if we take wardrobe into account as well."

Kaldur nodded towards Megan. "She has a point."

"Yeah," breathed Superboy with an undertone of anger in his voice, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it." His arms folded and every tendon in his brawny muscles tightened menacingly. The clone's blue eyes flitted back to the open doorway, signaling that he was no longer part of the conversation.

With a quiet sigh of defeat, Megan stood from the chair that she had been perched in for so long. "While the computer organizes all the data, how about we see about getting you set up on the couch?" A perky smile appeared on her cute face as her brown eyes found Kaldur.

"That would be fine, thank you," said the teenager with the gills. He offered her a grateful smile right before she walked with a little bounce in her step to the open door and out into the hallway that was as light as the night beneath a scarce sliver of moon. Kaldur followed her quietly, still unable to fully muster the fact that his mentor had waited five hours before calling to say he was late.

As soon as he knew they were out of earshot, Superboy got out of his chair and headed for the one Megan had been in only moments ago. His blue eyes were focused on the cerulean screen that kept sorting the massive amounts of files and data that Miss Martian had harvested from her hours of patient work and diligence. He found the keyboard and pulled up the three profiles that had been shuffled to the background as the computer's current projects worked with the transfers and saving of information.

The first one that came up was Matthew Fridner's was the first to come up. Superboy let his eyes skim over all of the basic statistics. Eye color. Hair color. Medications. Law troubles. The basics. He knew how it all went. He had done his research on his teammates while they were out of the headquarters. Of course, Megan was all too open with him. He dealt with it.

The next that came up was Richard Grayson's. The clone let his brain soak in all the information before moving onto the next one. Gerard Drew's profile looked just like the other two's.

Superboy sat back in the chair, his bulk moving the back of it a bit more than he would've liked. The clone rifled through the information that he had been able to absorb and began to sort it in his own mind. After being taught that way for he first sixteen weeks of his life, Superboy figured he was capable of doing it again. And all of the information began to slide together.

It was another ten minutes before Megan walked in. And she was amazed at what Superboy had to say this time. "Hello Megan!" she said, giving herself a little facepalm. "How did I miss that?"

It took less than a second for Superboy to toss his communicator to her so she could call up Wally. It fell neatly into the palm of her hand and it only took her a second to call up the group's ginger boy. Kid Flash had to know.

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**A/N: I tried to get in some comic relief, but I'm not sure how well it went over with you guys. So just review!**

**~Sky**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: All of you were like "HOW'S ROBIN'S NAME ON THE LIST? HE WAS TRYING TO STOP THEM!" ****Well, Robin doesn't live there and doesn't always have full access to the systems. That, and where would my story be? That's right. Nowhere. And let me just say that I love all the ideas you guys are throwing around in the reviews. It's great, really.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

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Wally heard a faint buzzing. One of his emerald orbs opened to see the gentle silver moonlight filtering through his window. The speedster let out a quiet groan before reaching for his cell phone. His hand groped for a bit on the table beside his bed. His eye shut again, knowing that even if he was looking, he's still be blind as a bat, no pun intended.

The buzzing continued. It was driving him crazy.

All Wally wanted was a bit of peaceful sleep. He hadn't been resting much for a while. He'd been so busy with trying to find Robin's identity and hauling butt back and forth from Central City to Mount Justice and back to Central City again. It didn't actually fatigue Wally too much, but it did get exhausting after doing it multiple times a day with school and homework and the rest of life's little trivialities that never seemed to matter to the ginger.

His fingers closed around his phone and he waited for it to buzz in his hand. He heard the sound once more, but his phone wasn't making it. The device in his hand hadn't buzzed. Then the redhead remembered that he had turned it off before he fell asleep. Wally grunted as he tucked his phone under his pillow and began to search for his communicator in the darkness. His nightstand was covered in picture frames, plates of cold pizza, a video game controller or two, some pair of glasses that he hadn't worn since the seventh grade.

His fingers settled on the small earpiece that he always made sure to keep close. Wally sighed and curled it around his sad before clicking it on. "What's up?" he asked, throwing the blankets off of himself so that he could get up fast if this was an emergency. He had his uniform somewhere in the mess of clothes that lay strewn across his bedroom floor. Of course, he could've had the whole place cleaned in about twelve seconds, but he chose to keep it a mess. Not even he could figure out why though.

"Blue," came Megan's excited voice through the communicator. It was shrill in the near silence that enveloped Wally's bedroom. The boy winced at the high pitch of his teammate's voice.

"Um, what about it? It's a color..." Wally ran a hand through his already ruffled and messy hair. He looked at the clock on his nightstand that was decorated with a pair of his boxers. It was just a little past midnight... And Megan was calling because...?

"And brown, I forgot to mention that," said Megan quickly, making up for her momentary confusion. "The eye colors of all three are different." A little static had cut into the line, but Wally could still hear her clearly enough. "This could be it!"

The green-eyed boy had to blink repeatedly before his mind was even beginning to be capable of wrapping around this subject. He had just woken up and already his favorite freckled-girl was throwing colors and numbers at him. He was not ready for thinking yet. "Whaaaa?" he asked, still trying to figure out why she was calling in the middle of the night. He had actually been sleeping for once and Miss Martian just /had/ to call...

"Wally, are you there?" asked Megan, the connection suddenly getting even fuzzier on his end of the line. The static seemed to be coming out of nowhere and getting louder and louder. It was almost as if the call was being intercepted, but Kid Flash's head was so full of sleep and exhaustion that he wouldn't have even noticed if a train ran right through his bedroom at that moment.

"Why are we talkin' about colors and numbers at midnight?" Wally's words were slurred and his voice carried the beginnings of a yawn. He almost sounded drunk. The static roared in his ear, completely drowning out Megan's voice on the other end of the line.

"Wally?" came the girl's voice through the receiver but Wally was letting his tired body take over. The boy let his mind go numb in the sound of the static. "Wally?" Megan almost sounded worried, but his mind was slipping into the warm depths of unconsciousness. The blackness that swirled around him was so tempting... "Wally, we're going to find Robin tomorrow, okay?" The static that filled the communicator in the speedster's ear was lulling him into his bed. His head rested on the pillow and he was ready to curl up into a ball and crash for the rest of the night.

As soon as Wally's snoring touched Megan's end of the line, the girl hung up. "Signal was bad," said the girl, putting the communicator back in Superboy's hand with a certain reluctance. "He'll probably come early tomorrow so we should get up and be ready for him. Knowing Wally, he'll have a plan and be completely ready."

Robin was curled up in the mountains of junk in his best friend's attic, tapping away on the computer that was attached to his wrist. He hadn't kept close enough tabs on the search and now all he could do was try his hardest to set them completely off course. Jamming Wally's communicator was the best he had been able to do, but he knew that he had to come up with better ideas. He had to. His life was at stake. One name in the minds of his teammates would ruin the name he had built up for himself with the mask on.

And Robin wanted to keep his mask on.

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**A/N: So reviews are welcomed! Sorry it turned out so short…**

**~Sky**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Decided to do another chapter. I know it's soon, but I just wanted to write something for YJ, but I didn't want to do another one-shot so soon after I did "Mirrored" so I just picked this and started.**

**Two other little notes: My sister Kasta Evanson and I are making Young Justice videos on YouTube to music and we're just playin' with it for now, but it'll be really cool. Username is TheEvansons (we're so creative, right?). Also, I have a new poll on my profile I would love for you all to vote on if you would. Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

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Wally rubbed one emerald eye as he walked into the mouth of Mount Justice the next morning, communicator in one hand. His other hand was running through his ruffled red hair that stood out in all directions, gleaming the color of flames under the weak lights that kept the inner caverns so dark. He hated getting up early, but he hadn't understood much of the conversation with Miss Martian last night and had decided that he probably should go in early.

And there he was, in early. Wally hated it because it was still too close to sunrise for him to be anywhere near awake yet. He liked staying up late and hated getting up early. It was one of the main reasons why he hated school. The homework was just an annoyance that was served on the side.

Superboy was the first one to greet him. When Wally reflected on it, he realized that it really wasn't much of a greeting. The ginger got a half smile from the clone, which quickly turned to a scowl and then Superboy just stalked off. And Wally was too tuckered out to care much. He accepted it as it was, moving towards the kitchen to get his fill of whatever sugar he could find.

Aqualad found him second and Wally had to do a double take on this. "What are you doing here?" he asked after making himself a little ice cream sundae with some of the ingredients he had dug out of the fridge. He had been careful to walk slowly with the ice cream so the friction of his pace didn't melt it all in the carton. Everything else he had done at top speed so he could eat sooner. The more sugar and the faster he would be awake.

"My king was not here to take me back to Atlantis last night," said Kaldur with a nod in his friend's direction as a partial greeting.

One of Wally's red eyebrows shot up. "I'm pretty sure you'd be capable of going home yourself," noted the ginger as he finished off his sundae with a cherry. He put the rest of the little red fruits back in the fridge before racing back to the massive bowl of ice cream and shoveling a spoonful into his mouth.

"He suggested that I stay here," the dark-skinned teen told Wally confidently, trying to keep up hope that his king was still as wise as he had always seen him as. "I did as he said and M'gann made me a bed on the couch."

"You slept on the couch?" asked Wally, another spoonful of ice cream and sprinkles and whatever else he had thrown into the bowl being dumped into his mouth as he tried to scarf down something of a breakfast to satisfy his high metabolism.

Kaldur nodded curtly.

"Not weird at all," said Wally, rolling his eyes and making sure that his voice was coated thickly with sarcasm. "Anyways, where _is_ Meg? She called me last night but I was getting some bad signal and I never got the whole message."

"We have more on Robin's identity," said Kaldur quietly.

Wally's grin was irresistible. He was absolutely giddy that he was this close to having his best friend's real name instead of just being left in the dark like all the others. As Robin's best friend, the ginger felt that he had a right to know. His green globes glittered as he realized that they were just another step closer to finding out who the Boy Wonder really was.

"Wally!"

He turned around to see Miss M flying at him with a smile pressing upon her lips. "Hey, what was last night all about? I didn't get the call totally because my signal was messed up or something. It usually isn't but whatever…" It had only struck Wally at that moment that he had never before had such bad signal in his room. His room was usually one of the hotspots to receive calls in the house. Which reminded him that Uncle Barry had set him up with a system in the attic that would give him better signal for the serious emergencies that rose up. He couldn't find any real solution to it…

"We've found out that each of them has a different eye color," said Megan, words tumbling out of her mouth like a waterfall that had just been released from behind a dam. "It's between blue and brown."

Once again, an eyebrow shot up. "Um, M, I'm pretty sure there are three, not two. There should be three colors…"

"Richard Grayson has blue eyes, Matthew Fridner has brown eyes, and Gerard Drew has one blue eye-"

"One brown eye," finished Superboy, emerging from the dark hallways of Mount Justice's inner shadows where he had disappeared earlier.

A perky smile kissed Megan's lips as her gaze found the clone's. "Superboy figured it out. I read over everything in their files, but I only saw two colors and they didn't really stick in my head until he pointed it out directly to me," she said quickly. It was like the words couldn't be said fast enough. "I've seen everything that there is about them and I completely missed that!" She slapped one hand to her forehead. "Hello Megan!"

Wally let a grin spread across his own face. Megan was happy and that made him happy. That, and he was so close to finding Robin's name that he could taste it.

"So do you have a plan?"

Megan's words kind of made him pause from where a spoonful of ice cream hung between his mouth and the bowl. Wally had to take a moment. He ate the sundae that was on the spoon and gulped it down before asking in a disbelieving voice, "What?"

"You have a plan, right?" asked Superboy, making his way towards where three of his four teammates stood. "You're in charge of all this. You roped us into it." His arms folded across his chest and his blue eyes glimmered with a bit of ferocity. "You're the one coming up with the plans, Flashboy."

"Let's not start fighting," said Kaldur, already reaching for his waterpack in case he had to break up the speedster and the Boy of Steel. He had to have a weapon on hand to even think of challenging them.

Wally would've put up a fist against the ebony-haired sixteen-year-old if he didn't know any better. That and he was still trying to finish off his ice cream before it melted into a puddle in his bowl. "I'll come up with something," said the speedster quickly as he ate another bite. "I'll work on it. Just need time here."

"You're supposed to be _fast_, remember?" said Superboy, putting a fist on the table to show that he meant business.

Wally was already formulating ideas. He was fast, but it took time to perfect things. He had to have some time at least. Things weren't as easy as snapping his fingers and then saying "Ta-da!" Things were harder for Wally. Not everyone was Barry Allen. Kid Flash definitely wasn't. "Alright, here's the pl-"

It was at that moment that the systems of Mount Justice announced the arrival of Batman and his protégé. Superboy automatically vanished into the depths of the hideaway again and Megan was disappearing into the darkness as well but in a different direction, leaving only Kaldur and Wally standing there, looking as if they were talking by themselves. Much less suspicious than all four of them.

"Hey," said Robin, flipping down the hood that had blocked the sunshine from his face as he had walked into the headquarters of the new team. "Everyone's here early. What'd I miss?"

Neither of the two boys said anything. They just blatantly stood there and started talking about how Aquaman had left his apprentice for five hours before finally calling. It was a good excuse. And it was a good topic to start the day on.

Robin knew what they were really talking about. He wasn't as oblivious as they thought he was.

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**A/N: Time crunch near the end. Plan next chapter, capiche? Don't forget to check out all the stuff I mentioned in the last A/N. Adios! Thanks for reading! Review please!**

**~Sky**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Muahaha! A longer chapter it is, then! So here's a longer one for y'all and I'm glad to be able to provide more length since it's what you guys want. And I'm just going to say that I love writing this. **

**For those of you who kept throwing certain ideas out there, I'm lookin' out for ya. Most likely, I'll mention all of the ideas that you're throwing at me. I've already got a ton of my own, but I adore how much feedback you keep tossing me. It feels like I have to dive into the reviews just to see what you all want! And I love it, guys! Thanks a ton!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.**

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Kid Flash rubbed his hands together quickly while watching as Superboy and Miss Martian kept eager eyes on him. "So here's the skinny," began the redhead. "We're doing this nice and classy, 'kay?" The ginger put one hand on his hip and then the other was on the table. "I'm pretty sure he's already onto us. I think. Maybe. I'm not sure. So anyways-"

"Talking in circles," said Superboy bluntly. He wanted answers and he didn't want this whole mini-operation to be run by the team's biggest idiot. "We either know or we don't." His azure orbs were glaring darkly as the younger boy.

"It's hard to tell. He's kind of warned me more than once, but I don't know if it was on purpose or not." Wally shrugged quickly, emerald eyes flitting to the door to be sure that Robin wasn't coming back.

The team's youngest member had left his sweatshirt at the headquarters and Wally figured he'd be back to get it at any moment. He knew his best friend didn't like being so disorganized. When Robin knew he'd left it behind, he'd come flying right back to get it. Wally was on high alert and he had asked Superboy to extend his hearing just in case. The speedster would've been happier had he known that he could put Aqualad on guard as well. Kaldur was always as obedient as a police dog. It was almost ridiculous, but Wally was definitely grateful for it. Superboy sometimes had a tendency to not listen in the slightest.

"Still useless information," scowled the clone, arms crossing his chest so that his muscles were defined in the kitchen area's lighting and the tendons were clearly showing beneath the skin. "We either know or we don't."

"Suspicions," said Megan, putting one hand on his shoulder before the clone reached across the table to wring Wally's neck. She knew that a fast guy like Kid Flash could easily get on Superboy's nerves without even meaning to. "So we don't know." Her brown eyes shone at him before glancing to Wally, hoping she understood what he was saying clearly enough. "That better?"

Superboy snorted to display his obvious annoyance.

"Aaaannnyyyywaaaayyy," said Wally, trying to ignore the whole situation of the clone being mad at him in the first place; the redhead wasn't even sure what he had done wrong to begin with! "So I have two ideas, one much easier than the other."

"Then why do we need two plans?" asked Superboy, gaze narrowing.

"Wow, you really like interrupting me, don't you?" hissed Wally, now returning the ebony-haired boy's glare. He wasn't sure what he did wrong, but now he was getting frustrated. He liked talking fast. Interruptions kind of slowed him down. The speedster wasn't a fan of slow things.

Superboy stayed quiet despite his longing to make a snappy remark right back at the boy with the flame-colored hair. He just let his gaze harden a bit more.

"So my first idea was to just try and either A) discreetly take off his sunglasses or mask and check or B) whip them off and look and get our butts kicked by our favorite scrawny little bird boy." Wally looked to the table as he said his first plan, hoping that maybe they could find some way to make it work. There were two options with his first scheme, but he knew the risks were equal with each.

Megan had to mull through this momentarily. She ran through the pitfalls of each idea and weighed them on a mental scale. "Taking them off discreetly would mean while he's asleep or unconscious, right?" she questioned, voice soft but logical.

The fifteen-year-old nodded once.

"So then we wouldn't be able to see his eyes anyway," said the girl with a little bit of sadness in her tone. She hadn't wanted to shoot down Wally's idea, but she figured that her approach to it was more reasonable. "We'd have to actually open his eyes and then he'd wake up." Her beautiful brown gaze bore into Wally's jade orbs. "It just wouldn't work," she pointed out.

"So ripping them off would be the only choice, right?" asked Wally, focus flitting between the two older teenagers that stood on the other side of the kitchen's island.

Superboy nodded curtly. The anger was fading from his face. Wally took it as a good sign.

"You could always make it look like an accident." Megan's voice came through the short silence. "You know how to do that well enough, don't you Wally?"

The redhead grinned from ear to ear. "Easily," he said, a bit of a cocky tone possessing him for a moment.

"And option number two?" asked Superboy, really wanting to make a decision fast. He knew Flash would be there any moment for his nephew and he was getting itchy about the thought of Robin walking in on this little conference. They would be done for. Batman would most definitely have the whole team torn apart if he knew about this. And Superboy wasn't sure where he'd go if the team was terminated by the Justice League.

"We could go to the school and find them," said Wally, almost stumbling over his words. "We could talk with each and have an earwig so that we could tell Megan and punch it into the search."

"Too many things wrong with that," said the clone, already eager to burst the speedster's bubble.

"Like what?" asked Megan, one of her eyebrows arching as she looked at Superboy with a curious expression. She thought it actually sounded like a good idea.

"For one, he could see it's us and run. You could catch him, sure, but he won't say anything, won't talk to us ever again." The clone unfolded his arms from across his broad and muscular chest. He clenched his hands into fists and pressed them into the countertop of the kitchen's island. "And if he doesn't run, how will we know which one is him? He could alter his personality and lead us on a stray course. Then we wouldn't know which is really him."

Wally wasn't happy listening to all the flaws in his scheme, but he dealt with it like a big boy and listened intently to the words that came from the Boy of Steel.

"Then there's the same problem with if we looked at a picture. Like M'gann said, we wouldn't know what he looks like without that mask on. We wouldn't even be able to put a name to the face because we haven't seen the face." Superboy's cerulean gaze was focused entirely on the ginger that stood across from him, the kitchen's island separating them. "It wouldn't work unless he ran, and we know that Robin would be calm enough to face us with a straight face. He wouldn't be afraid to do that either."

Megan nodded, her attention turning from Superboy to Kid Flash. "He's right," said the green-skinned girl with a gentle, sad smile kissing her soft lips. "It's just not going to work. Any way we go, we either get the answer and get yelled at or don't get any closer at all."

"Alright," said Wally, running one hand through his crimson locks. "So we're shooting for the second part of the first plan?" He wanted to make sure that they had everything clear so that no details were lost in translation.

Both older teenagers nodded before looking to each other.

It was at that moment that Mount Justice's security system announced the arrivals of Batman and Flash, the two coming in side-by-side. "Robin requested that I come back and get his jacket," said the Dark Knight, explaining his reason for coming back to the young team's hideaway so soon.

"I just need to take Wally back home before I get an earful from his mother." The man clad in red rolled his eyes. "Come on, kid. I don't want to get chewed out a second time this week."

Wally drummed on the island with his hands for a second or two before running to his uncle. "Trust me, you won't get yelled at. We'll be home before she starts worrying."

The older speedster ruffled his nephew's flaming hair. "You get on out of here. I'll catch up."

Wally wasted no time in leaving the mountain's inner caverns to race out into the open air where the sun was just barely passing below the horizon. He was gone in a matter of seconds, the wind blowing past his body at extreme speeds.

"Hey, Bats," said Barry, catching the burly man just before he left the inside of the mountain. "I just thought I'd mention that I caught some weird signals from the communicator hotspot that I set at Wally's house. Sounded almost like hacking."

"Security breach?" questioned the Dark Knight, pausing but not looking over his shoulder. He had his adopted son's sweatshirt in one hand and he still had his mask pulled tightly over his face. He knew the dangers of walking around in civvies inside of Mount Justice now.

"I'll decipher it more when I get back," said Flash, shrugging slightly. "I'll call you if I need to get some computer details and such. We all know you're the main technology of the league."

Batman left quietly, no more words passing between him and his old friend. Flash was gone in less than a heartbeat to catch up with his quick nephew and the Dark Knight didn't bring the topic up again. He let it drop. He knew what was going on. He was glad that Robin had caught up in the search just in the nick of time.

Superboy and Miss Martian had heard the whole thing, but neither had put the pieces together that Wally's signal had been jammed. The two had been formulating plans of their own to make taking off Robin's sunglasses look like an accident.

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**A/N: Dundundunnnnn… And I'm sorry that the end kind of got sketchy. I do my best ^.^ So review? Please?**

**~Sky**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: This is probably like one of the only two things I'm going to get up today. It's stormy and dark and I love these kinds of days. That, and I was at a sleepover last night, so I'm so tired I could fall asleep at my keyboard. Anyways, here we go! Sorry about the length!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Robin was inside of Mount Justice before either Superboy or Miss Martian were awake. He was there out of uniform, dark sunglasses hiding his glassy blue eyes and a gray sweatshirt hanging on his agile build over a dark blue t-shirt. A pair of jeans hung at his waist and black sneakers were on his feet. He was ready for anything that the day could throw his way. Because he knew the imminent danger was closer than ever.

Superboy's hearing picked up the sound of the Boy Wonder's entry. He listened carefully to hear Kid Flash's entering shortly afterwards, but he couldn't pick up a single sound of the cave's announcement of the young speedster's arrival. There was no sound of Batman's entrance either. The boy sat up, listening to Robin's footsteps over to the couch (his hearing had developed nicely over the short amount of time) and the youngest teen's body curling into the couch. He knew that this was going to be a problem if Robin were to somehow come across their search engine.

Throwing the blankets off of himself and grabbing a tight tank top from the pile of clothes on the floor, Superboy began pulling it over his head before rapping his snowy white knuckles upon the wall that was shared with Megan's room.

She thought she heard something. She rolled over slightly before hearing the knocking again. Megan groaned and shifted out of bed, her eyes still full of heavy sleep. The green-skinned girl opened up her door only to see Superboy walking past solemnly, two words coming from him. "Robin's here."

That got the girl to kick into high gear. She fingered the fabric that hung on her body, letting it morph around her into her human clothes of a tank top and a nice skirt. With that, she was floating quickly behind Superboy, going to greet Robin. Or at least keep him distracted.

"Hey," said Robin, a paddleball in hand. How Superboy failed to hear the Boy Wonder playing with the ever irritating paddleball was beyond comprehension, but he let it slide because he was more worried about when Wally was going to get there. They couldn't keep Robin busy forever and he did have that horrible habit of disappearing into the blackness. "You two have the uncanny ability to get up at the same time…"

Superboy looked over his shoulder at Megan who was following close behind. A rosy blush was coloring the girl's cheeks a vivid shade of magenta. She felt stupid for following so closely behind him now... "Our rooms are right down the hall. It's not hard to be woken up by each other." The clone's cover story actually made a bit of sense.

It was enough for Robin to believe it. As if he didn't already know what was going on behind his back. He might've even believed the Boy of Steel's lie if he hadn't heard the soft knock upon the wall himself. But he shoved that fact aside, letting the two get away with their little secrets. He would get them soon enough. They would learn not to play with him like he was just a little kid. "You guys wanna play paddleball?" Albeit nothing ever stopped him from acting like a kid.

The clone's answer was simple. He said no to everything. Now wasn't any different. "No."

"I should really make breakfast," answered the niece of Martian Manhunter; her voice was higher, evident of bearing guilt. "Lots to do around here. This place doesn't take care of itself." She let out a quiet, unsure laugh before floating her way off to the kitchen, communicator in hand; the girl never went anywhere without the device. She slid it in her ear and clicked it on discreetly, already calling to see where Wally was. Her brown eyes were on Robin as he kept flicking his wrist, the small ball and its string going away from the flat wooden board before crashing back into it again over and over and over again, the same cycle going on.

"I'm coming," came Kid Flash's huffed voice through the communicator. "Just need to get some pants on. Then I'll be there. Two shakes of a lamb's tail, I swear it." The static wasn't there this time. Neither of the two talking noticed this fact. They were too busy worrying about the problem at hand. Wally had been planning on getting there early in the first place, but it looked like Robin had beaten him and this was an issue. How could they talk over a plan if Robin was in the same room?

"Why aren't-" The girl figured that the sentence that was about to spill out of her mouth could only lead to more flirting attempts from the team's freckled boy. "Never mind." Megan's voice was a soft whisper. "Just get here fast. Robin beat you and I haven't even talked to Kaldur since he left last night before you and Robin were gone." She hoped the Boy Wonder couldn't hear her silent discussion over the static of the tv that Superboy had flipped on. The fuzzy screen was always somewhat of a comfort to him and she wasn't about to ask about it.

"I'll call him on my way and he'll be there before I get there, alright?" The sound of a window sliding open and shut accompanied the redhead's voice through the earpiece. "We'll take things from there."

"Just hurry." Megan let the connection die as if the conversation had never happened. As if she really had to tell Kid Flash to hurry. He was already the prince of speed, as he had dubbed himself.

So Megan slid the communicator into her pocket and let the day envelop her; the girl was taking to the kitchen like she did every other morning, working to make some breakfast and keep her little mountain palace clean, along with keeping the other occupant happy in his constant state of detachment from anything and everything. She even asked the Boy Wonder if he would like something and he turned it down, saying he had already eaten.

Superboy had let the tv turn to static on purpose. What was more droning and drowning than the static of the screen and the surround sound speakers? The clone could hear the conversation of Megan and Wally perfectly, but he knew Robin hadn't heard a thing but the static. That was the point of turning the tv on. To keep the other raven-haired boy in the dark about what was to come in his day.

Robin kept his paddleball going. The rhythm was soft but rushed, and the tension of the cord from the paddle to the ball was relieving his stress. He could only hope that light spectrums and his best friend's goggles didn't do anything to ruin his day because he wanted to keep the sunglasses on. But that's why he had come in civvies. To make things easy on his friends.

Batman had said he had a choice, hadn't he?

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**A/N: Now I am psyched for this next chapter. I love the dramatic irony in all this. I never get to play with irony too much… So this is fun. Review please!**

**~Sky**

**P.S. I did a video on my YouTube and it's kind of got the theme of this fic in mind. Called 'Robin's Secrets'. My username is TheEvansons. Feel free to watch it if you'd like!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Need to get close to the end of this story now. I'll begin to hit the climax right about… Oh, how about this chapter? Sure, that sounds good.**

**A lot of you said that Robin's name should've disappeared off the list. Well, say you have 700 names. Suddenly, you have 699. Would anyone be suspicious of what that one name was that mysteriously vanished? Hmmm… I certainly would be. And that is why Robin's name is still on the list. Ta-da!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice at all. Credit due to OrangeSpiral. You'll know why soon.**

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Wally had snagged Megan and pulled her through corridor after corridor into the backroom that was hidden far into the caverns of Mount Justice. It was the same room that the search engine was being hosted in by the massive computer with the glowing blue screen. He had been able to whisk her away with the excuse of needing to ask her on a date. He knew Robin would buy this lie. Of course, no one noticed the flames of red fury that kissed Superboy's cheeks at the mention of Wally taking Megan somewhere alone. Robin was too busy playing with his paddleball and Kaldur was in the kitchen with a glass of water.

"He came early today," hissed Kid Flash, stating the obvious fact that had thrown a wrench in their plan-making time. "Why did he come early today? Why not yesterday?" The ginger's eyes were on the screen and his arms were folded tightly across his chest. "Does he know?"

Megan shook her hand, standing a bit behind the team's other redhead with one hand on his shoulder. "He can't know. I password protected it." She also looked up at the three rows of statistics that were placed across the screen, each name labeled beside it. "In any case, you have a plan."

"Yeah, I do," said Wally with a slight smile. "It's not hard. Just need to trip him harder than usual."

At the thought of potentially injuring their friend, the green-skinned girl grimaced slightly. "Don't forget that you hurt him before. You gave him a bruised rib, and Batman said you could've snapped his spine if you hit him any harder." Megan was tentative on the idea of putting their teammate in danger for such juvenile reasoning. She wanted his name as much as anyone else, but she wasn't keen on the plan that involved hurting him even in the slightest.

"Batz is a hero, not a doctor." Wally's green orbs skimmed the list of names a bit more, looking to see which name corresponded with which eye color and tried to sear the names and shades into his mind. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Wally…"

The gentle and almost concerned tone in her voice made him look over his shoulder at her to see those big brown eyes laced with worry. Her face was somewhere on the borderline of heartbroken and fearful or at least somewhere in between those two. His jade orbs analyzed her posture and the way her face was set so pitifully that it made him think twice.

"Wally, he's your best friend," the girl reminded the speedster. "This is getting out of hand. If you hurt him again, he might be taken off the team because this could be considered too dangerous, just being around you."

"Batman wouldn't do that," breathed the boy, trying to talk some sense into not only Megan but also into himself. He knew he was getting into some dramatic stuff, but it wasn't anything Robin couldn't handle. It was only for the sake of answers that they couldn't get any other way. It was because they _had_ to find out; Wally wasn't sure he could take the suspense much longer. "He wouldn't take Robin out of something he loves."

Megan retracted her hand from Kid Flash's shoulder. Her gaze shifted from the teen with the flame-colored hair to the floor. "But I don't think he'd hesitate with taking you off of this team."

Something inside of Wally shifted. Something dangerous. It was like his heart sank to his stomach, a stone in water. He suddenly found it harder to breathe, and for a moment, he forgot how to drink in air. The boy had to take a moment, recompose himself, blink back the panic that had risen up in his eyes, and focus on the topic at hand. "I won't hurt him."

"If you do," murmured Miss Martian, "we aren't going to take the fall for you." Her eyes were still stuck on the linoleum floor that she and her fellow teammate stood upon. "This was your idea to begin with. If you hurt him, the blame is on you."

At this, the ginger nodded solemnly, knowing that this was their one and only chance. It was make it or break it. It was all or nothing. It was do or die. "I won't."

"The plan wasn't to hurt him the last time either," reminded Megan gently before letting out a quiet sigh and moving out of the room. "We'll just stay out of your way, okay? Get it done and give me an answer. I'll get it and tell you as soon as I can." She quietly slipped from the room towards the kitchen to join Kaldur in his stoned silence and maybe make some cookies to pass the time until she had to run back to that shining screen of the massive computer and finally get the name they had all been looking for.

Wally took his time in leaving. He turned back to look at the screen once more and let his jade orbs scan over the list of details that corresponded to each name before finally settling his gaze upon the color of the eyes of each boy. He only wanted answers; that was why he was doing it. He didn't want to hurt Robin. He had never wanted to hurt Robin.

And quietly, Wally retreated from the room, hands in his pockets and gaze downcast. A sigh swelled from his chest and he hoped this was the right thing to do. He never wanted to hurt his best friend. Never. Now, it was starting to feel wrong. It felt like as soon as he got what he wanted, he would regret it. He didn't want to regret all this hard work later; Wally just wanted his answers and then he would walk away from everything, hands dusted free of the guilt.

Robin was still sitting next to Superboy, feet kicked up on the coffee table when Wally emerged from the inner caverns. "Rejected," said the Boy Wonder with a little smirk at the end of it. "Megan shot you down again." His shaded eyes were focused on his friend who had stopped shuffling and had suddenly lifted his head as he emerged under the fluorescent glow of the cave's overhead lighting. "She told us. Sorry, dude." His paddleball was still slamming into the board he held in hand before flying out again. "Stick with younger women. They're the only ones you're going to have a chance with."

Kid Flash knew this was just a little remark, totally off base, but it still made him a little angry. This kid was keeping secrets and yet he could still harass anyone he wanted without caring how they would feel. Did he not understand how his teammates felt about being left in the dark about his true identity? Wally had to push down his slight rage and swallow his pride; he forced himself to play along with the game that Megan had decided to continue from being in the same room earlier. "Whatever," he said. "You want to do some training?"

"Nope." The Boy Wonder's response was so blunt that it was almost too easily given. He regretted the simplicity of his answer immediately, cursing at himself in his head. He tried to cover by saying, "Batman said I should stay down for another day or two in case you dislocated something. He doesn't want me getting hurt." He had automatically looked away from Wally. He wasn't planning on getting off the couch any time soon. Robin knew Wally stood a better chance of getting him if he was standing. The couch was like home base in a game of tag: a safe zone.

So tripping the youngest teen wasn't going to work. Wally swallowed a little growl of disgust that had bubbled up into his throat. Apparently, Robin wanted to make things really hard on them. If Robin wouldn't get up, how could Wally expect to knock him to the floor. Well, there were a thousand ways of knocking him off a couch, but they were all a bit more brutal and rude. Megan had warned him that she and the other two wouldn't take the fall if he were caught trying to find out the true identity of the Boy Wonder.

"Wanna play paddleball?"

His friend's voice dragged him out of his thoughts and planning. Robin was watching over his shoulder when Wally's eyes refocused on the reality that wrapped around him. The ginger had to do a double take and be sure that this kid was serious. Paddleball? He was, like, thirteen! What thirteen-year-old still played with a paddleball? Wally was about to blow off his best friend's request entirely and go into the kitchen to confer with Aqualad and Miss Martian when a plan formed in his mind. "Sure." And Wally swiftly made his way to the couch, leaping over the back and dropping down onto the cushion right beside Robin.

"No one else wanted to," scowled Robin, glancing at Superboy who was sitting to his left while Wally was on his right. Then his gaze switched over to his ginger friend. "Here." He handed the paddleball to Wally.

Kid Flash took it with a certain eagerness that he wished he hadn't shown. He didn't think twice about playing with it; Wally had practically grown up playing with one of these things day and night for hours on end. "Man, I never thought I'd miss a paddleball."

"I know, right?" commented Robin as he leaned back and stretched his arms behind his head to kick back and relax for a few moments. He was on home base. No one could tag him. He was as safe as a safe zone could make him. "I found it in my closet the other day."

Wally had started it out slow before picking up the pace and instead of having the board face the ceiling, he faced it outward, away from him so that the ball would fly out into the open air ahead of him. He let it go like that before letting it pick up speed, going faster than before. The speedster was definitely grateful for his inhuman gift.

Superboy had been keeping an eye on the duo for a few minutes and decided to add in his two cents. "You're going to break it."

Kid Flash turned, the paddle turning with him so that the ball was flying to his left. And it was like Superboy had played the perfect role in this game, putting the pawn into place so that Wally could score his checkmate that he had wanted so badly.

The small red ball that had been flying at nearly fifty miles an hour clipped Robin's sunglasses, breaking the frame and partially cracking the lens that covered the ebony-haired boy's left eye. He had been looking at Wally as he was playing with the ping-pong like toy when it had gone wrong.

"Rob!" Wally's cry of alarm was innocent enough. The Boy Wonder had been hit and his sunglasses had been broken enough that he couldn't see out of his left eye. "Sorry! Did I hurt you?" He didn't want to be kicked off the team. He couldn't cope with something like that. And what if Batman forbid him from ever seeing his protégé again? Then how would Wally ever find out the real name of his best friend?

"Nah," breathed Robin, having to take off his sunglasses to be inspect the damage done. "Just broke my favorite sunglasses…" His eyes were squeezed shut for a while, trying to make sure he didn't feel any pain in his face. There was none. For that, he was thankful. "No biggie." Then his eyes opened.

Wally stared into light purple eyes, the color of vibrant violets. And he knew something had to be wrong. "You sure?" he asked, trying to make sure that this was really Robin and not some sort of clone. This wasn't right. Blue or brown, those were the only options! Purple wasn't!

"Yeah, but now you owe me new sunglasses," commented the younger of the two as he looked over the broken lens that had the appearance of being close to shattered. He was glad it hadn't totally cracked into pieces or else he could've been blinded in one eye. A blind bird boy didn't make a very good hero.

"I'll get back to you on that one," said Wally, forcing the biggest fake smirk he could muster. What was going on? Had they been wrong somewhere? Maybe they had gotten false information from the reading on the training pad. Or what if Robin didn't live in Gotham City at all? Then what? Where had the search gone wrong?

Robin snatched the paddleball back from his best friend, sliding his now broken sunglasses into his pocket where they would be safe from further harm. And he wasn't afraid to show his eyes now. Not when he had the upper hand. Wally didn't even have his goggles on. That played right in his court. He stood better odds as long as no one could see through his façade. "And you're not allowed to play with my paddleball anymore." So he resumed his game with himself, letting the ball fly into the air overhead before slamming back into the wooden board that made the actual paddle.

Superboy had been watching the whole time. He hadn't heard about a plan, but he knew well enough that Wally would be doing something. He had tried to play along the best he could. Surprisingly, he was the one who put two and two together to make four. As if bothered by the immaturity of the younger two boys, he stood up while shaking his head and pushed his way into the kitchen where Megan was eagerly working away at finding a new cookie recipe to try. "Blue," he whispered discreetly in her ear as he passed by. And then the clone stood beside Kaldur innocently, arms folded across his chest, looking detached from the world around him.

And without a second thought, Megan put down the recipe book that she had been levitating and looked to Kaldur who was still standing there, having no clue what was going on around him with the rest of the team. Within a few moments, the green girl was floating down a hallway, no one seeing her disappear.

Robin hadn't taken into account that Superboy's abilities had been developing better by the day. He hadn't expected x-ray vision to read right through his colored contacts. The Boy Wonder thought he was safe, that no one would know.

They knew.

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**A/N: DUNNNNNN DUNNNNN DUNNNNDUNNNNNN! So what do you guys think? Lovin' it? Worried for Robin? Amazed at how long this one was? Give me feedback! I love feedback!**

**~Sky**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'll just say that in the beginning, I compared this to "Glassy Blue". And I said that I knew where I wanted to go with this story. The first few chapters were Point A and this and the next two chapters are Point B. So now I can really have some fun with this. Although after I hit the end of Point B… I don't have a Point C. So let's just work with what I have for now. Also, the error in the last chapter that a lot of you caught has been fixed. Thanks for telling me about it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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Miss Martian had gotten into the room where the search was being run, her mind repeating the same color over and over and over again in her head. She had to remember it the same way she had to remember Gotham City Academy before. If she forgot now, things could get dangerous. If she had to go back and ask and Robin just so happened to overhear... Megan shuttered at the thought of him finding out that they knew who he was.

She thought that once they knew, they'd look into his background and learn what they could. After that, she figured the information would be locked away in their minds. It would be there but never mentioned aloud. That was how Miss Martian saw the rest of the search playing out.

Things were never that easy.

She levitated herself into the chair and pulled up the search after typing in a complicated password that she knew Robin would never be able to hack. The biographies of the three thirteen-year-old boys appeared up on the screen, each of them next to each other in three columns.

Megan closed her eyes, drank in a deep breath of the room's dank air, opened her eyes again, and then slowly began to scan the three columns for the boy with the blue eyes. When her eyes finally found the color she had been searching for, she let her gaze stray back up to find the name that went with those eyes. She let this name seep into her mind, and she promised to never let it go.

Quietly, Miss Martian shut down the biographies of the two other boys and left the one up of the boy they had been searching for. She felt a smile on her lips and pride swelling in her chest at the thought of a completed mission, but something still felt wrong.

Pushing that feeling aside, Megan floated her way to the doorway. In the stony silence, the green-skinned girl looked over her shoulder one last time, that pride once more bubbling up inside of her. She finally had a name she could give to her teammates; at last, after all their hard work, an answer had appeared out of the mist. And she flew her way towards where she had left her friends.

She had disregarded all concern of Robin still being within the cave. Megan had been completely enveloped in memorizing the name that she had forgotten the caution that had once surrounded their search. She had thrown that caution to the wind and let it be stripped from her usually collected mind. But as of that moment, her mind was completely focused on a single name. She couldn't forget that name.

The girl with the crimson mane pushed her way into the large room and was immediately saying, "Richard Grayson. His name is Richard Grayson."

Three sets of horrified eyes were automatically turning over broad shoulders and 'o's were formed upon pale lips as color drained from faces around the room. Robin was easily the palest.

Kaldur was just in shock. He had been in his own little oblivion since he'd gotten to the headquarters this morning. Ignorance was bliss, but at that moment, he felt danger breathing sown his neck as words tumbled from her mouth, words he knew could destroy everything.

Superboy was distraught with the fact of how careless she'd been. He was watching her over one of his squared shoulders with those intent sapphire orbs filled with a bit of panic. He knew how she had just thrown them into a war zone just by not being alert enough to realize that Robin hadn't left Mount Justice yet.

Wally had his neck craned and his emerald eyes filled with undeniable fear. He hadn't noticed Megan's disappearance to begin with, but when she had come back and said one of the three names on the search with the Boy Wonder in the room, he knew they were all going to get it. He would've covered for them, but now they would know that they were all in on it. What made Kid Flash more terrified was the fact that Megan had chosen the one moment when the Dark Knight was in the room.

Batman's face (or at least what could be seen beneath the black cowl) wasn't in it's usual stoic position. Instead, it was twisted into a sort of grimace, as if the hero was about to growl in his anger but was holding it back. Batman had his hands clenched into tight fists, the material of his gloves showing the strain of his hands and the tendons of muscles. Rage was practically flooding off of him in waves.

But it was Robin's face that had the most emotions passing it. First, it was horror. He looked terrified to hear his real name spoken in the world of heroes. It made him seem smaller, more vulnerable now that a name could be put to the boy in the civvies. Then came the heartbroken expression; the smile that had been on his face moments ago because of Wally's jab at Superboy had faded into an abyss of darkness. Robin wasn't sure how a hole had just ripped its way into his heart, but it had and he suddenly felt very alone. And last was the rage; the sheer fury that seethed off the youngest team member was enough to rival that of the Dark Knight. Anger wasn't usually one of the fuels that drove him, but when it was, those who had enraged him were in the line of fire. That was never a good place to be.

Megan had only realized her mistake too late after seeing the cloaked Batman and his apprentice standing at the mouth of the cave, ready to leave at any moment. If she had only stalled for a few more seconds...

Wally looked back to Robin's face. No longer were sunglasses hiding his features and now Wally could get the full grasp of who this boy was: someone hiding behind a mask. Wally barely had time to take this in before he saw the Boy Wonder coming at him, malice clearly written across his pale features. Kid Flash had no time to react, even with his super speed, as Robin took one more step before swinging one foot into the air, clearly aiming to give the redhead a swift kick to the face-

The harsh, snappy bark of "Richard" from Batman made his protégé pause, his foot a mere two inches away from the ginger speedster's nose.

There was a moment where Wally's heart was racing at the speed of light. He was terrified at the thought of having his best friend's shoe impact with his face. It wasn't because he feared the pain, but it was because he knew what it would mean. The end of their friendship. The end of all trust between them. The end of everything that had ever existed twixt the two boys who had practically become brothers. But the thought of Batman being the only one to have stopped Robin was what scared Kid Flash just a bit more. He was almost completely sure that he would have gotten that kick in the face had the Dark Knight not said anything.

And slowly, Robin brought his foot back down to the ground, but that didn't stop his fists from being clenched, nails digging into his pale flesh; it didn't stop the anger from being thrown across his usually placid features.

There was a short silence where Robin stared at Wally West, looking him over for any guilt or any remorse for what he did. Instead of finding those, he found fear. And he knew that Kid Flash had no regret for his actions. He never carried regret.

"We're done here." Batman stepped forward, putting a hand on his adopted son's shoulder and giving it a little squeeze, a warning for the Boy Wonder. The Dark Knight knew that his ward could sometimes be a bit too impulsive.

With one last look at the team that he had one day hoped to lead, Robin grimaced. And then he turned quickly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. The Boy Wonder disappeared, the headquarters announcing that he had left.

Batman took one moment to look over the other four members of the team. He could only be disappointed. The trust that he and his protégé had put in them had clearly been too much. He shook his head once with a quiet sigh before following his ward out of the cave, silence following.

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**A/N: I do like how this one turned out. Very satisfied with it. Kind of funny how there's only three pieces of dialogue in here... Reviews would be nice to read. Constructive criticism would rock. And thanks for reading, as always!**

**~Sky**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Anyone know when the next episode is on? It drives me bonkers when there isn't any new stuff…**

**On the note of the story, I'm going to say that I'm not completely satisfied with Kaldur's dialogue, but he's the one character that I seem to always struggle with. So… kind of roll with it? Please? I tried the best I could, but he's impossible in this situation…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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The air that Wally had been breathing caught in his throat. He watched as his best friend and the hero of Gotham vanished. Then he turned to the others in the room, his body moving in a complete one-eighty. "What happened?" he asked, voice almost sounding strangled. The pain was clearly written across his expression as if it were a page in a book; the pallor of his face displayed his evident fear.

Megan wasn't even floating. She had collapsed to her knees, distraught with what she had spoken. She had said Robin's real name aloud. It was the moment she had been waiting for. She had wanted so badly to be able to tell her teammates the real name of the Boy Wonder. Now all she could feel instead of the pride she was hoping for was the emptiness of loss lingering in her chest. She sat on her legs on the floor, head bent in dismay. "It's my fault," she breathed. It felt like her heart had shattered in her chest, the millions of pieces of it stabbing the rest of her innards like shards of glass.

Wally was still trying to comprehend it all. "Did he really just-" He wasn't even capable of forming a complete sentence yet. His words trailed off. "Robin tried to..." The gravity of the moment was crashing down on him like the wave of a tsunami.

"We won," muttered Kaldur darkly, eyes dimmed with anger at himself for not stopping this search before it had even gotten a good start, "but we lost." He shook his head, moving one hand to touch his temple and massage away a headache that was now threatening to split open his skull. What kind of leader was he? He had put his own questions before the privacy of a teammate. And he had let it go instead of shooting it down like he should've. How would Batman ever trust him to lead now?

Megan was now trying to hold back tears. How had she been so reckless? How could she have been so stupid? Oblivious wasn't even a good enough word to explain how ignorant she had been. The green-skinned girl was so disappointed in herself that she never wanted to speak again. She was just a rookie, hardly worth anything in a fight, and now she had just spilled the team's secret of their search for Robin's identity. How would they treat her now? Megan could only see herself as worthless.

Wally kept trying to compute it. Robin's shoe had been less than a foot away from his face. It had been two inches from his nose. Two inches. If the Dark Knight hadn't said anything, Kid Flash knew he would've gotten smacked around real good. But now he could finally see the real image of Robin's face: he could see that rage, that hatred, that disappointment. Disappointment. That was what stabbed Wally's heart like a dagger. Robin had faith that his best friend would let it go, leave it alone... And Wally had betrayed that... What kind of a friend was he?

Superboy, still null of nearly all emotions but fury and jealousy, was as quiet as ever. But while he saw his friend's wallowing in their misery, he decided to take action. The clone took one step towards the room where the search engine was. Then another; then another. His sapphire orbs were still on his teammates even as he disappeared. He had things to do, a search engine to look through.

Wally was still gaping, searching for words that would explain the desolate feeling in his chest. Loneliness? He had just lost his best friend. Maybe Robin would come back tomorrow; maybe he wouldn't. Only time would tell and Kid Flash had never been one to like waiting, but not even he was stupid enough to dare think about going after the protégé of the Dark Knight. He'd already angered the Boy Wonder and going after him would be like digging his own grave a little deeper. "Meg..."

The girl's brown eyes found the ginger. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks like waterfalls of liquid diamonds. "I should've known." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper. It clearly betrayed her fear and panic of the situation that had just unfolded right before her. "I should've known. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Her breaths were gasping, her lungs clearly wanting to give out beneath the magnitude of the pain she had just caused everyone she loved so dearly. "I should've known."

"We should not have been doing this in the first place." Aqualad's silvery gaze flitted between his two teammates. "We should have respected Batman's wishes. He did not want us to know, but we went searching. It's no one's fault but our own."

Megan's cracking, breaking voice once more came, still a mere breath. "It's my fault," she insisted with tears still cascading down her emerald cheeks. "I didn't look before I spoke and- and I told and I'm so sorry." Another gasp for air came from her. "I'm so sorry."

Instead of saying what he felt, Kid Flash just stood there, stunned with it all. He suddenly wished it had been a dream. Why had he wanted that name so badly? What could a name hold? Well, in the hero world, everything. But Robin had been trying to keep it away from his friends, not his enemies. Why had he felt the need to question Robin? Why?

"M'gann," murmured Kaldur, moving to kneel beside her in an attempt to comfort the green-skinned girl. He took one of her delicate hands in his own. "It's all our faults." He quietly helped her to her feet and kept her balanced while she stood. He could tell how Miss Martian was crumbling under the weight of everything. "You cannot take all the blame. You did no more than the rest of us. He would have found out eventually."

Wally ran one hand through his fiery crimson hair and looked over his shoulder at the entrance that Robin and his mentor had vanished through. This was all real. Suddenly, he was hating himself for even questioning the ebony-haired boy.

At that moment was when it hit the speedster. What if Robin didn't come back? Well, of course he'd come back. Unless Batman broke up the team. And what if Batman broke up the team? Megan would go back to Mars. And what about Superboy? Where would he go? Wally realized that he could've just ruined the lives of two of his friends.

"I didn't pay attention," whimpered Megan, still weak at the knees and about ready to collapse at any minute. Her face was unnaturally pale, and her orbs of muddy brown were laced with sadness. "I should've known."

Wally was still caught up in his own problems. Or what if Batman brainwashed them all to forget? The possibilities of what could happen were endless. The West boy was almost afraid to think of what could really happen. But losing Robin as a friend was his biggest fear. That near kick to the face would've destroyed everything.

The one thing that kept a seed of hope in Wally's chest was the fact that Robin hadn't kicked him. He knew two things about the Boy Wonder: he always listened to Batman no matter what, and he never let anyone get hurt. Robin had done both of those things. But Kid Flash knew that part of Robin had wanted to pummel him to the floor until he had a bloody nose and each of his eyes were surrounded with a ring of black and blue. The redhead wasn't dumb. But he was still hopeful. Maybe Robin was one to forgive. He'd never really done anything to bother the boy before, but now he was hoping the Boy Wonder was forgiving.

Something on him said that Robin wasn't.

"You should come see this."

Three heads followed the sound of the words that had come from Superboy who stood in a dark hallway. The only visible part of the clone was the big red logo on his shirt and the white color of his face.

Kaldur supported Megan who was still ready to fall at any moment. He silently led her back towards the room that was hidden in the darkest depths of Mount Justice's inner caverns. She continued to sob even as he helped her along.

With a somber face and slight rage lingering in his emerald eyes, Wally followed the other two to where Superboy had been minutes ago. His steps were slow and weighted by the guilt that hung on his shoulders the way that the world was upon the shoulders of Atlas. Yet, he still walked into the back room.

Superboy was the end of the little procession, listening in case Batman and his apprentice did happen to come back. The clone doubted that they would so soon, but it never hurt to be cautious.

When the three ahead of him were in the room, Superboy extended his hearing range before quietly sliding into the chair that sat in front of the screen and in front of the keyboard. His fingers found the mouse of the computer. Superboy began to pull up the files of Richard Grayson.

Aqualad let Megan down into a chair that he then stood behind, both eyes on the screen as they were to the left of the clone. Wally was behind all of them and to the right of the Boy of Steel, arms folded across his chest as his emerald orbs watched the screen.

When the files came up and newspaper articles scrolled across the screen with names and pictures and information, the group finally understood.

Superboy heard Wally say something and looked over his shoulder to see that the ginger speedster was shaking his head at all of the documents and facts. And, like a jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces were falling into place. Wally could only breathe one sentence. "This is why he didn't want us to know."

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**A/N: I do like writing team interaction, but I usually like one-on-one introspective character stuff better. This is going to get harder… So review please! Thanks for reading!**

**~Sky**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: I am so, so sorry. I meant to update yesterday and that clearly didn't happen. My bad! Also, posted a new Robin-centric story. It's called 'How We Fall'.**

**You guys were all kind of like "I WANT TO SEE WHAT ROBIN'S THINKING!" I mean, originally, it wasn't in my little plot strings and such, but I can definitely fit it in because it's definitely part of the story that deserves to be shown.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice.**

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The ride was quiet. The silence was like some sort of demonic spirit hanging over the space, inducing the earsplitting quiet that lurked in every corner of the Batmobile.

Bruce wasn't too worried about the quiet. It was what was going on with his ward that was bothering him the most. He had raised the boy since he was about eight years of age and now it was like he had changed personalities in a heartbeat. Bruce wasn't too horribly bothered by it, but it did make him worry about what was going on inside the head of the young boy in the passenger seat.

Dick was never one to be quiet for long periods of time. He was almost always talking, chattering like a monkey. When he was supposed to be quiet, he was smiling to himself or grinning at the least. And then when he was on his own (Bruce had cameras for safety purposes, but he did like to have an extra eye on his adopted son), Dick had tendencies to be talking to himself, his lips moving and words of no true meaning spilling out. Richard was never a silent kind of boy. He was as talkative as a girl sometimes, but that had never really bothered Bruce.

It was in the dark, lingering silence of the Batmobile that Bruce was actually starting to seriously worry about his ward.

Normally, Bruce didn't feel the need to be worried. Dick did like to have his freedom; that was an evident point in the discussion to create the new team of young heroes. Dick had wanted his freedom, and Dick always had a little bit of influence over his mentor's decisions. So Bruce had let the team go and let the Justice League start up the undercover operations team that was now made up of the five sidekicks. And the independence that Dick had declared from his foster father was part of him branching off and making new friends and connecting with others. Bruce had let it slide because he knew that Dick was never one to have to be worried about. But now, he was a little bit concerned.

Of course, Bruce didn't want to say anything. He knew what Dick had gone through as a child. He'd been through it himself as well. It was something that none of the young team's members would truly understand. Superboy, possibly, but even then, it wasn't to the same extent. The dark-haired man kept his eyes on the road. He didn't like to be pressed about his problems that had been put in the past. He didn't want to question Richard, despite how badly he wanted to try and offer a little comfort to his ward.

Some things were complicated between the two of them. Bruce knew he would always have to pick and choose his battles carefully instead of making each one worth it. This was a fight he didn't want to be involved in, but he knew that the covert team had really done it this time. They had been pushing for answers and somehow, they had pushed the envelope and ruined things.

Batman wasn't as ignorant as he could sometimes seem. He knew this whole thing was clearly bothering Dick. But he wouldn't press. Why would he? But he wanted to. He wanted to help his adopted son so badly… Bruce was quiet and let the boy sit in the passenger seat in his muted state.

Robin, Richard, really, had his head against the window, mask pulled away from his face and his eyes shut. The boy's pale face was illuminated by the streetlights that the sleek ebony car passed under. His white face was darkened with grief, his expression grave despite the bright glow of the radiance from outside of the vehicle. One hand was against the window as well, holding a handful of his raven-colored locks in a gloved grip.

So Batman would press. He hated to, but he had to. He was the one with the authority in the space. He had the right to do whatever he wanted to. "Richard," said the Dark Knight, eyes flitting from the road to the boy who sat beside him in that black leather passenger seat. He just wanted to instigate a conversation, that was all. Anything to get his young son to talk.

Dick was quiet. He didn't want to talk. He didn't want to acknowledge the problem. If he ignored it long enough, maybe it would go away. All his secrets were out in the open now, being read by the people he had trusted the most to respect his wishes of privacy. He had _trusted _them. _Trusted_. He thought they would be able to handle it; he thought they'd be able to keep the temptation of the snake at bay.

They'd failed him so badly that it felt like they had given him a wound that would never heal, never even scar. It would bleed forever, that information of his name. Now that it was out in the open, it was for anyone and everyone to see. Anyone with the right kind of access, anyways. Robin had put his faith in them, all his faith.

He thought that Wally was his best friend, that he was the one who would be stopping this when it started. The redhead had been the closest thing he'd had for a brother in his entire life. And Wally had let the ebony-haired boy down. Dick couldn't help but be disappointed in his best friend. Wally, of all people, had to have been the ringmaster behind the whole thing. The ringmaster who had set the whole thing into the downward spiral until it hit the ground. And it had hit the ground. It had hit. Now Richard Grayson was there to suffer the price of the ringmaster's mistakes, just as he always was. Always.

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**A/N: There was going to be more, but I'll leave it with that last little metaphor for effect. Review please?**

**~Sky**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I was struggling with this one more than you would know. For the record, what information I know was obtained from Wikipedia. So sorry if not all of it is 100% correct. I did the best I could to cross-reference and everything…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters. Once more, I apologize for the length.**

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The red-haired speedster read it all, his teammates standing alongside him. Well, not exactly alongside him, but they were all there, each reading with horrified expressions painted on their faces. Wally was just having a hard time comprehending it all. This couldn't be real. There was no way. It couldn't be.

These sources all had the same name printed on them, Richard Grayson. For some reason, Wally couldn't see this boy as Robin. He was too dark, too tortured. When Wally compared these notes to the obvious facts he knew about his best friend, none of them added up. But the evidence led a trail straight to the name of Richard John Grayson. He had to accept that this was the true identity of the dark-haired boy; Kid Flash would also have to accept that this was Robin's past.

It was simple at first, so innocent. The first few articles were just the stuff about him being born to John and Mary Grayson, two acrobats in Haley's Circus. That was so point-blank that Wally figured the rest of it would all be simple. The circus part made enough sense. Robin was a world-class acrobat, nearly putting his mentor to shame sometimes with his flexibility. It was almost too innocent for the ginger to believe.

But then it started going downhill.

The next article that the clone at the keyboard pulled up was one on his parents' death. This was the one that started the horrified faces.

The Dark Knight's protege had apparently been only eight years old when he witnessed the death of the two that had raised him under the big top of Haley's Circus. The wires of the trapeze had been sabotaged; there had been evidence of that. This was what caused the death of the Grayson boy's parents.

Then the whole thing began to mellow out again, but the fact that the boy witnessed the death of the two who had trained him and raised him and loved him... The rest of the team couldn't fathom the thought of it. They had all been raised by family for so long that it was instinctual, Wally especially. He was trained by his uncle, lived with his parents, very close with his grandparents... The redhead couldn't dream of a world without his family around him.

Superboy was an exception, but even he knew that witnessing a death of people that important to someone would leave scars on the heart and mind. He might've been a clone, but he still had a soul. Even he knew the effects of ripping away any loved one, Superman being his case and point.

After the death of his parents, the life of Richard Grayson had leveled out a bit, being adopted by Bruce Wayne, being enrolled in the highest ranked schools within the Gotham city limits. It was looking like things had gotten better for a long while until all the Bruce Wayne parts of the world had caught up to him. He'd been kidnapped at least once as the ward of the billionaire. At least. That didn't even count the dozens of times he'd probably been kidnapped as the Boy Wonder. Articles were everywhere of Dick Grayson's being taken by some sick, twisted criminal for the ransom of a million dollars or so.

And between all the kidnappings and near death experiences, there was a scarred, injured child. There was the boy who had watched his parents fall from the trapeze. Traumatized. Devastated. Scarred. Richard Grayson had been scarred for life and that was that.

Wally was still trying to get all of this straight. Part of him still wasn't believing the entire story. Could one kid really be this tortured? Was it possible? And Robin had always seemed so... so strong, so normal. There was never a moment in time when Wally considered his behavior to be strange or different. Robin was Robin, and it was something that Wally had grown used to and respected. The kid was so good to people, always smiling, always laughing.

He didn't want to accept it. This couldn't be right. This couldn't be. Richard would be a dark, tormented child, not a smiling, maniacally cackling Boy Wonder. It just wasn't plausible. It wasn't. Wally refused to believe it. They had gotten the wrong identity, that was all.

Then his mind raced back to the heart-pounding moments of when the younger teen's foot was about to smash into his face and the sharp bark of "Richard" escaping the lips of the Dark Knight...

Wally didn't want to accept it, but this was the right kid. Richard Grayson was Robin. Robin was Richard Grayson. But Wally wasn't satisfied with this. It wasn't possible. There was no physical way that such a broken boy could manage to be the sidekick of Gotham's winged hero.

But something told him that this was right, no matter how much he hated this newly revealed truth. The speedster looked to his companions, seeing each of them having finished read the same things as he had. Then Kid Flash finally made the comment, "I don't get why he didn't want us to know."

It was the eyes of Kaldur'ahm that first flashed to give the ginger boy in the room a fierce glare. "We invaded his privacy," said the team's leader, voice harsh and fierce. "This was wrong. We should have stopped with his name. That was all we had wanted, was it not?"

For a long time, no one spoke up, but all of them were suddenly feeling horrible with themselves for reading into the files. All except for Wally, anyways. He timed his next comment until he figured he wouldn't get anyone to refute his opinion. "He's just a spoiled little rich kid now," remarked the redhead, slightly aggravated that Robin had kept that minor detail from him. "There's nothing really there to hide, dude. Sure, he's seen a lot, but he's turning out fine, right?" The redhead was trying to push away the idea of the trauma. He didn't want to imagine the pain and suffering that Robin had gone through in watching his parents plummet to their deaths. He could never imagine seeing it himself with his own parents... He would rather die than have to visualize it.

"He doesn't want our pity, that's why," said Superboy, rising from the chair that he had planted himself in to work the keyboard that would control the cerulean screen of the massive computer. "And maybe he doesn't want us to see him as a spoiled rich kid." The clone's azure orbs were throwing a glare in the form of daggers directly at the team's speedster, all anger intended. He was starting to get a little fed up with Wally. Superboy actually had to side with the apprentice of the Dark Knight on this one. He didn't want to be seen as a weapon, but rather as a person.

"It's not like we helped at all," murmured Megan from where she sat, her brown eyes glittering with tears as she looked to Kid Flash. "We just ruined his life again. We know who he is now. He didn't want us to know. We made things worse for him."

Wally hated that the rest of the team was right; he hated it with every fiber of his being. But the fact of the matter was that they were right and that they did ruin his secrecy. And the speedster was guilty of contributing to the crime.

Before any of the team had any more time for reflections on the subject of their screw up, the cave announced the arrival of Aquaman. The group was soon split up to go home for the night, Wally going with his uncle to Central City and Kaldur heading back to Atlantis. But it was strange that neither mentor mentioned anything of Batman or Robin, both of them acting as if it were any other day. Maybe they were unaware. Maybe they weren't acknowledging it. Either way, the team was fearing the consequences to come.

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**A/N: Not completely satisfied with this one, but I knew this chapter would be a bear to write. The next one will be a bit more fun for me, but more irritating for you. Haha. So review please! And yeah, Wally sounds like a complete jerk. That was my goal. His ignorance is a mask of bliss… **

**~Sky**

**P.S. Thanks to anonymous person for pointing out last sentence not finishing. I must not have hit save after I did the final edits... Whoops... My bad!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: So… like… inspired today. I don't know if any of you watched that movie on Disney Channel, "Lemonade Mouth", but dang that was such a great movie. But I haven't read the book, so I'm going out to grab it and the cd some time today…**

**Okay, wow, jeez, that was off base. Anyways, I've been purposefully delaying on this story, not just because I was only doing Ben 10 for Ben 10 Week, but because I'm running out of Point B and I don't yet have a Point C… I'll need you guys to be patient with me. Really, I don't know what I want to do after the next chapter. This one's going to mess with everyone… *evil smirk***

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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It was almost a normal day when Wally went back again the day afterwards. Maybe that was what scared him. The normalcy of it all.

It started out with his Uncle Barry going into Mount Justice with him like they did every other day. Usually, Flash would say hey to Batman and Superman if the two were hanging around (they had tendencies to lurk sometimes) and then would leave. That was normal.

Today, Batman was nowhere in sight. The Man of Steel was there though, standing next to Dinah as the two conversed in voices that were lowered to the point of being nearly silent. Martian Manhunter was also standing off to one side, his niece near him as well. Then Aquaman was in the kitchen while Kaldur'ahm stood by the door. Wally noticed that probably half of the Justice League was probably there. He moved over to Aqualad as his mentor waltzed his way over to the big blue Boy Scout and Black Canary. "We're in trouble, aren't we?" asked the ginger

"They have not said anything about a punishment." Kaldur was watching Superman and Black Canary in particular, knowing they were the main people who would deliver the blow that would abolish the team for good. Them or Batman, but the Dark Knight wasn't in sight.

Wally shifted uncomfortably as he saw Superboy walk into the room. His azure orbs caught sight of his two friends leaning against the wall. After a moment of internal debate, the clone made his way over towards them. He made sure to skirt around Superman before walking normally towards Kid Flash and Aqualad. "Have we been read the riot act yet?" asked Superboy. He too leaned against the wall on the other side of Aqualad.

The gilled boy stood between his two friends. "They have not said anything yet," repeated Kaldur while his silvery eyes watched the mentors stand around except for J'onn who was telling Megan how things were going on Mars.

Superboy was listening in on the conversation that was being held between Black Canary, Flash, and Superman. He wanted to hear about a punishment if one was truly coming. But instead, his hearing picked up Barry's voice ask, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" He hadn't been alive for very long, but he knew that a chicken crossing a road wasn't really a punishment.

"So for now, we're off the hook?" asked Kid Flash with his green eyes watching Megan's face as it lit up. "I mean, I'm not hearing anything about a punishment. How 'bout you, Supey? You've got better hearing than me and Kaldur here combined."

The clone shook his head and his icy blue eyes fell to the ground. "Something about showing the armadillo that it was possible…"

One of Wally's eyebrows raised, but he knew that that wasn't talk of punishment. That was just Barry telling a bad joke. Yet, for some reason, when Wally looked to his uncle and company, he saw a smile perched upon the lips of both Clark Kent and Dinah Lance. The speedster was suspicious. What was all this innocence? It was like a normal day except for the fact that everyone was acting as usual except for the team themselves. They knew what they did wrong. Maybe they were all just waiting around for Batman to show up.

For some reason, Wally didn't think Batman would show up today. He highly doubted Robin would come. If Batman wasn't going to come, why would Robin come? And that question could be asked in reverse as well. If Robin wasn't going to come, why would Batman come?

"Do they even know?" asked Wally, casting panicked glances between the faces of the dark-skinned Atlantean and the Kryptonian clone. His green eyes were wide and filled with a mix of horror and fear. He wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that they could easily be unaware or the fact that they could be aware and just ignorant of the fact that the young team had screwed up on a catastrophic level.

They really had messed up. They'd gone behind the Boy Wonder's back. They'd messed around in his personal life instead of just meddling in his hero life as they always did. Wally could easily figure how that would make Robin mad. He knew he'd be upset if Robin and Kaldur wandered into his real world of Central City. He probably would've knocked Robin's block off and let Aqualad get away with it just because Kaldur had a tendency to follow Robin's lead whenever it was some sort of maniacal scheme. A plan like meandering into Wally's personal life sounded exactly like something the Boy Wonder would've cooked up.

But now Wally was aware of his mistakes. Now what was bothering him was the fact that no one was acknowledging his mistakes. Whenever he did something wrong, he was almost always immediately called out for it by his uncle. On this new team, Robin and Kaldur were watching his back, pointing out what he did wrong, giving him a good punch for each mistake (more Robin than Aqualad on the last one). But now Kaldur was in on it, Robin was the victim, and his uncle wasn't doing a single thing to show him what he did wrong.

"I do not know," said Kaldur, wincing at the thought of his mentor not knowing what crime he had committed against his teammate. He and Aquaman were usually on the same wavelength, knowing exactly what each other was thinking and easily interpreting the simple things that needed to be known about each other. He didn't understand how his king couldn't know.

Superboy was still listening in. Flash was still telling corny jokes. Clearly, he hadn't had enough hero friendship time lately. He was hardly hanging around Mount Justice anymore. Then the clone's hearing zeroed in on Megan's conversation with her uncle. They were just talking about Mars. Nothing was even somewhat related to a punishment. Nothing in the slightest.

"They have to know!" said Wally, his voice dropping to a fierce whisper. "How can they not know how badly we screwed up? We went behind Rob's back! We lied to him, we found out his name, we ruined his life! What else could we possibly have done wrong? We hit the ultimate level of doing bad things!"

Superboy was only watching the little explosion of Wally's hidden temper. Apparently, he was guiltier than he let on. The clone said nothing, but he knew that he was just as guilty as Wally was.

Kaldur was also guilty, but he was going to keep that guilt on the inside. He hated not having the Justice League know of their mistakes, but he was just as worried as the other two about the consequences of their mistakes. They all feared the idea of having the team ripped apart and all the sidekicks pulled away for prying into the world of the Boy Wonder's secrets. Kaldur knew he could go back to Atlantis with his king and Wally was free to go back to Central City, but what of Superboy and Miss Martian? Where would they go?

There was a long moment where Wally and Superboy were silent while Kaldur contemplated this issue. That quiet was broken by the sound of Red Tornado dropping in through his ceiling entrance that he was suddenly keen on using to the fullest. The tin hero dropped to the ground after hovering in the air for a few seconds. His head turned and he summoned the massive screens to appear the way Robin always would with the small computer device on his wrist. "A problem has come up on the Southern tip of Chile," said the robot, automatically working with the systems of Mount Justice to bring up the statistics of this new mission. "Sportsmaster has-"

"Okay, stop!" said Wally, finally giving into this guilt. He wasn't going to take it any longer. This was driving him to the brink of insanity. Did they know? Did they not know? Did they even care? Did they not care? This was important! Something of this magnitude must've been known by the League. It had happened in their own ranks! Batman was one of the senior heroes of the Justice League and if something had happened to his protégé, wouldn't the League know? And if they did know, why weren't they saying anything? "We can't go anywhere without Robin," he insisted, hoping that one of them would shed some light on the situation that was unfolding with the Boy Wonder and his mentor. "Shouldn't someone call Batman and get him and Rob here?"

There was another pause in the talking as Flash, Black Canary, and Superman stared at the three who lined the wall, each pair of eyes analyzing one of the kids. Then Aquaman joined the posse of Justice Leaguers.

Then Red Tornado carried on like nothing had happened, like Kid Flash hadn't interrupted. "They're trying to manipulate-"

"What's going on?" demanded Superboy, now wanting answers the same way Wally did. "You can't treat us like we don't deserve to know." His glassy blue gaze was flitting fiercely between the heroes that still stood in a sort of line. Anger was boiling in his blood. His fists clenched. "Whatever happened, we need to know. Batman's part of your team and Robin's part of ours."

Flash's arms were instantly folded across his chest. "So you want to hear what we have to say?" he asked, eyes narrowing beneath the red mask that covered his features.

"Just punish us already!" Wally never thought he'd ever be saying those words, but he was screaming on the inside. "This is ridiculous! You know what we did, and we know that you know! Let's just get all this out in the open!"

He didn't know how to get in touch with Robin other than his communicator and the dark-haired thirteen-year-old wasn't answering. The redhead had also tried to call the numbers listed on the pages that they had found online for Richard Grayson. A guy named Alfred had picked up and always said, "Master Richard is busy with his studies. May I take a message?" No, Wally never left a message. He knew this was personal on a deeper level. A message left with a butler wasn't going to make things any better.

"Oh, so you know that we know what you did?" asked Dinah, hands on her hips, and her lips pursed. A disapproving look was on her features. "Not all of us are as naïve as our butt monkey." The woman's blue eyes cast to Aquaman for a moment, who was still oblivious, before returning to the small crew of sidekicks in front of her. "We knew since Robin figured it out. We just thought he was capable of disabling the search."

Wally's green gaze cast to his three teammates, Kaldur, Superboy, and Megan who was suddenly at his side. Then the boy looked to the heroes that stood on the opposite side of the room. "He- He knew? The whole time?"

A smile crossed J'onn's face. He had joined his own team just as his niece had joined hers. "That boy is as smart as his mentor and even better at hacking. If you had wanted to do the search, you should have done it elsewhere."

"But that doesn't make it right," pointed out Superman immediately, a scowl pressed to his face. He was probably as mad as Barry was. He and Flash were two of Batman's immediate friends in and out of disguise.

"Honestly," cut in Allen, "we were going to let you all suffer for a couple of days at least, let you sulk and discover what you could about Dick, but now that you know that we know that you know, this can get a little interesting."

"Just tell us what we did wrong and tell Robin to come back!" Wally knew he'd hate this punishment. He knew he'd hate the consequences of what they did with every fiber of his being, but now he was begging for someone to hit him or yell at him for his mistakes or even tell his mom. He didn't want to see what was going to happen to him, but he wanted to mend the bridge he and the others had burned that had once connected them to the Boy Wonder. They wouldn't go on a mission without him. They weren't powerful enough. Not without him.

Barry's eyes narrowed. "So you want to hear what we think of what you did to that poor kid?" He watched his nephew nod quickly and eagerly. Soon, the other three on the team of young heroes followed suit, nodding with him, all wanting to know what would happen to them because of what they'd done wrong. And that was when Flash's face grew dark.

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**A/N: Next chapter will be the most fun. I love torturing you guys. Sadly, after the next chapter, I don't know where I want this story to go. So it may be delayed until I can find my Point C. In any case, review!**

**~Sky**

**P.S. The Albert/Alfred thing was fixed! I knew that his name was Alfred, but I was typing that part out in one of those moments where I had to get up and do some laundry so I came back and my fingers typed Albert. My bad!**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Well, I meant to start this earlier, but Kasta (my sister) took my laptop and I was chatting with a friend on FB. So that's why I didn't get this done sooner.**

**Also, I didn't get to this sooner because, well, I haven't yet found my Point C. So… bear with me?**

**On a third note (sorry, this is long): thank you for pointing out to me my mix up with Alfred being Albert. I was up and down while writing that with chores and stuff so I'll admit, I wasn't completely focused on that last chapter. Anyways, here's the next one!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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"For one, you betrayed his trust," scolded Flash, eyes glaring fierce shades of jade. His mouth couldn't be hidden with his mouth and the young team could see that his scowl was shining with rage. "That kid trusted you not to care about who he was. That kid trusted you not to look into it."

Dinah Lance had her arms folded across her chest, deep blue orbs disapproving of the actions that the sidekicks had displayed. "The past is the past. Ever heard of that?" Her mouth was curled up in a partial snarl, some of her pure white teeth gleaming out from behind plump pink lips.

Flash continued with his rant. "Secondly, you should've trusted that his secrets weren't anything bad. He's no criminal. He's no punk. He's just a kid like the rest of you with a bit of a darker past, alright? But none of you can trust him enough to put a little faith that he's not some little liar, can you?"

Superman's icy azure gaze swept across the group, looking them over with a scolding glare. He could see most of them horrified with the billowing fury of Flash, but only Superboy visibly flinched under his stare.

"He trusted you to not look into it and what did you do? You looked into it." Flash could feel the anger boiling his blood to dangerously high levels. He was never one to get that angry that fast, but these kids had really pushed the limits of the entire League. Not everyone was dumb enough to dig into the files of Batman. No one ever really wanted to touch those files because the entire League knew how tormented the man behind the cowl was. They weren't about to touch that information with a ten-foot pole. "You should never touch something like that. _Never_."

"He's only a kid," reminded Aquaman; the Atlantean wanted to throw in his two-pence before he would retreat to his thoughts and merely observe the proceedings.

Clark Kent shook his head slightly. "He's just a kid. He didn't deserve anything that he got, not in the beginning, not now." His face was hard as stone, his features unmoving, still, and cold.

"You guys only know how to elevate a situation, don't you?" Barry was now pacing, his emerald eyes dark. "We've been paying attention to your missions. Simple recons always turn out to be full blow fights and everyone's hurt by the end of it. You four never knew what you were doing when you started, but when he was trying to get you to stop, no one was listening."

"If you had only listened to him, Wally…" Dinah was looking down at the ground, a disgusted look lingering upon her petite features. "Robin told you more than once, but you couldn't pay close enough attention."

Wally, who was already suffering somewhat of a mental breakdown from the idea of his uncle scolding him so viciously, was stunned. How could his mentor, his uncle, his own _family_ accuse him of being so ignorant? He was with his uncle all the time! Barry knew how his nephew was with certain things. The redhead was instantly on the defense. "He didn't-"

"He did, Wally!" Allen's eyes flashed with more rage than Wally thought was possible. His uncle's fists were clenched in gloves, and his muscles were tensed in anger. "He told you not to!"

Clark was the first to try and get Barry back from his high on fury. His large hand fastened itself onto the smaller man's shoulder. "Stand down. They're just kids."

"So is Dick," said Barry, taking his step back and shaking off Superman's hand. "You and Megan know what happened over the communicators the other night. Static. Straight up static. I'll give you three guesses on who did that and the first two don't count."

Megan winced, her eyes shutting; a shudder passed through her lithe frame, goosebumps rising on her green skin. She should've known… The static was just too unnatural to be a mistake. Not after it had worked all the other times they had to get in touch under worse conditions. She should've known…

Wally was also cringing slightly, his mind willing for this moment to be over. He had never heard his uncle snap at him like this. Not once had Barry ever lost his temper like this. The boy was barely finding himself breathing, his chest collapsing under the weight of what he had been doing, conspiring, betraying, conniving, lying. That was him; all those things were him stabbing his best friend in the back. Wally had to drink in a deep breath of air before saying, "Can't you just call him? I've tried nineteen times now, and the butler keeps picking up." How he knew it was a butler was a mystery to him, but he just sort of figured since he was the ward of Bruce Wayne. And Alfred _did_ sound like a butler-ly name.

Barry was stalking off, needing to vent before returning. Odds were good he would've exploded completely had he stayed much longer without an ounce of self-control. This left Clark in charge of the situation. "You kids were trusted with the secret of what he looked like in civvies. You were trusted with enough secrets with everyone else's names. The League puts their faith in the younger members such as this team, and we expect you to return that trust. Bruce and Richard was one of these times that we wanted to believe that you could put aside all curiosities and just accept the fact of the matter."

"We failed," confirmed Kaldur'ahm, face grim and silver eyes dark with rage. He should've stopped it all before it had snowballed out of control like this. This was the point he had been trying to avoid; the leader had never wanted this confrontation to even take place. The Atlantean had been aiming to find a name and end it. It would've been like a simple recon. But that ran back to the point that Flash had pointed out earlier: all of their little investigations turned into a vicious battle when one minor note went wrong.

"You did," said Superman, eyes fluttering shut for a moment before reopening to see once more the heartbroken faces of the four teammates that stood in front of him.

"Are you going to end the team?"

All eyes were on Superboy for a long moment. The clone was tense; his voice was hard. The boy didn't want to lose this team over something this stupid. It was just a name, that was all. Sure, they'd made mistakes, but they were only human to a certain extent. Wally was mostly human, he sure felt human most of the time, Kaldur and Megan weren't as close as he and the speedster were, but they had made their fair share of mistakes, making them as human as their teammates. He wasn't going to let this little mishap shape the future for all of them. He didn't want the team to end; not yet anyways. He wanted to be able to know that he could turn to Superman for his home when this was all over. The clone couldn't yet do that.

"We can't," said Dinah darkly. The woman's blonde locks fell around her face in a way that cast shadows across her petite features. With her face concealed in darkness that reminded the four of Batman and their lost comrade, each cringed just a little bit, none of the winces perceptible by the eyes of the Leaguers. "Batman's out of the League. Left this morning. We can't lose you kids as a team since we're down a man. Until we can find someone to fill his spot, this team is still as operational as ever." Her piercing blue eyes flashed fiercely out of the darkness that shielded her expression of displeasure with the entire situation.

A stunned shudder ran through the young team. Each had to recoil from this news. Batman? Out of the Justice League? Just because of what they had done? "He can't have left the League!" insisted Wally. He took a step out of the group of his teammates that stood around him with worried faces and fearful eyes. "He's _Batman_!"

"Which is why he left," pointed out Superman calmly, features still as hard as stone. He wasn't about to give away his emotions like Barry had and like Dinah would had her face been visible. "You four ruined his apprentice. He has to help Dick heal before he can do anything. That kid hasn't spoken a word since his name came out."

"And Bruce has only spoken with us to resign his spot in the League and Robin's on this team."

This hit Wally like the Man of Steel had just punched him in the chest. "Robin… left?" His voice had come out as hardly more than a pitiful whimper, his eyes automatically glistening with the pain of knowing that he had caused the downfall of his best friend from being one of the most feared sidekicks in the world to a crumbling boy that wouldn't even speak. He had only wanted to know a name, not cause this domino effect of pain for the entire Justice League. "He's not… He's not coming back?"

Dinah's glare was slightly visible beneath the shadow that her curtain of gold cast upon her pale face. "Would you come back if you'd been stabbed in the back?" she retaliated with a bit of a growl on the end of her words.

All four of them cringed at her words, knowing that this was their fault. They were the only ones to blame for this mess. Batman had left. Robin wasn't coming back, nor was he talking. Now the League was down a man and the team would have to go on without the Boy Wonder in their ranks. This wasn't something that could be fixed with a batch of Megan's cookies.

"We'll make it up to him," insisted the green girl. Floating out of the crew that was her team, she made her way to hover right in front of Superman. "Just let us go see him, please." Her big brown eyes were sorry and desperate, begging for another chance to make right what had been done wrong. Megan was able to see the mistakes that needed to be fixed. Apologies had to be said, peace offerings had to be made, and they just needed to tell the little raven-haired boy how awful they all felt.

"You can't," broke in Red Tornado, finally inserting himself into this conversation that had left most of the room completely silent. His metal head swung so that his sensors were locked on the teenagers in the large chamber. "There's a mission and with Batman and Robin gone, these things need to be taken care of now more than ever. You should have foreseen these consequences before you engaged in such risky business."

Superman gave a slight nod, walking away from Megan. He wasn't sure how long he could hold up against her pitiful looks and her pleading face. "Mission first," he agreed. "Then we'll see what you can do to fix this."

"But I doubt you'll be able to," came the voice of Barry as he returned from his minor exile. He'd had to calm down before he could even look at the young team. "Bruce isn't even talking to us. He's so pissed off at you guys that he's not even answering Barry Allen's calls." The blonde speedster had to refer to himself in the third person to put the emphasis on how not even his alter ego could get a moment to speak with the Dark Knight.

Kaldur was quick to pick up on what had to be done in order to secure some time with Robin. "Mission first," he noted, nodding to Wally and Superboy who stood nearby, indicating for them to follow him towards Red Tornado where they would get their mission assignment. Megan followed with a quick flight over to the three boys, her deep orbs of brown watching them and then the screen that was showing maps and such.

There was a long explanation of their mission, most of which Wally wasn't listening to. He was still trying to compute the thought of not having Robin on a mission with them. That, and the fact that the Leaguers kept on referring to someone named Bruce. When they had gotten their assignment (something about ravaging beasts down in the jungles of Central America), Wally had to take Kaldur's forearm within his grip and ask, "Wait, so is Bruce Wayne Batman?"

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**A/N: Well, I was trying to find a Point C, and I didn't find one yet. But I'm working on it. Also, by the end of the chapter, I was struggling a little bit. That, and Wally had to be an idiot somehow. So review please!**

**~Sky**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: No Point C. Still in the works. Storyboarding this is… complicated.**

**And I have a new story idea for YJ. That I _need_**** to get started before the new episode premieres on June 3****rd****. But I want to finish this story first, so it's like "Urrrrggghhh".**

**Also, side note: Due to the review war going on, I'll just say that I got Robin's real name off the official Cartoon Network website. For those of you getting his name from Nightwing comics or any other sources, I am using the official website for my main information and building off of it with Wikipedia. So his name is Dick Grayson. That is that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all.**

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Anger, rage, fury. They were all pent up inside his system like the chemicals of a bomb ready to go off as soon as the fuse was lit. He was ready to snap.

It wasn't that he was mad because they had found his name. That wasn't that important to him. His name had been his secret, sure, but that wasn't what stung.

What stung was the betrayal. He felt like he had been stabbed in the back with four different knives, one digging in deeper than the rest. He could live, but it was a painful existence, one where he didn't want to breathe, didn't want to speak, didn't want to see. He was angry, that was all. Angry and upset.

It wasn't just because he had been betrayed. It was that he had been betrayed by the people he trusted the most besides his mentor.

What a best friend Wally was. He had started it all; Richard knew that much. He was no fool. He'd been able to trace communications. He'd been able to see what was going on behind his back, when he wasn't there. Dick had never left his Robin mantle for long. Some days, he even stayed behind in Mount Justice just to spy on his friends. Sure, that was doing the exact same thing they had done to him, but they had started this war. He was only along for the ride, playing along.

And Richard was disappointed, so _disappointed_, that no one else had had the courage to tell Wally to stop what he was doing. No one, not even Kaldur, the supposed _leader_ of the team, had given even the slightest inclination that what was going on was wrong. Dick knew that Kaldur'ahm was one to speak his mind even when he knew standing up to someone would get him in trouble. That had been seen when the four had wanted to forge their team. But why hadn't he been able to stand up to Wally? Why couldn't he have put himself in the way to defend a teammate?

Superboy… Dick wasn't able to think of an excuse for him. He didn't know any better. Of course, he was hardly half a year old in reality and had sixteen years physically. There had to be some sense in that thick Kryptonian head of his that said it was wrong, but the clone scarcely knew much beyond his blind rage and flying fists. That was his two-pence of an excuse. Richard would let him go with a bit of leniency, but he was angry because he knew Superman's theoretical son had been in on it. He hadn't known any better, but he was still an accomplice in the scheme that had murdered the Boy Wonder. Figuratively, at least.

Of course, Dick felt dead inside either way.

Megan… she was another one who had an excuse. But still, he'd been watching more than they had known. He had seen her when she was expressing how she thought that it was wrong. He had seen her face when she had flew out of that backroom that he had been in so many times, monitoring their search through the wiretap he had set up to the system. When she had come out of that backroom, he had seen that ecstatic joy that had wiped across her jade features. He knew that she had been in over her head before she truly knew what was going on. Yet Richard still didn't have the heart to exemplify her from blame.

So, curled up in his bedroom with the icy wind blowing in along with the smell of Gotham scum and smoke, Dick wallowed in his misery.

Bruce had tried to talk him out of his room more than enough times. Richard gave his adopted father some credit for trying so hard. He'd sat outside the door the entire first night after Dick had locked himself in. Of course, Bruce could've knocked the door in whenever he wanted, but the man had chosen not to. There was always that line that he could never and would never cross. Richard knew his paternal figure cared for him more deeply than he could understand, but he was too infuriated to see much past his blind rage.

No, it wasn't that he was distressed at the thought of his identity being found out. No, he wasn't upset because he no longer had his big secret. He was angry because those he had trusted the most had betrayed that trust. They'd gone behind his back. They'd hit the ultimate low.

There were many things that Dick couldn't stand. He couldn't stand the thought of killing an enemy. He couldn't stand the thought of villains taking money that wasn't theirs to take. He couldn't stand watching innocent people die. And he couldn't stand people who burned bridges that weren't meant to be burned.

Where was the trust? He'd trusted them to leave his secret alone. They hadn't trusted him to be honest. He wasn't a criminal. He wasn't a killer. He wasn't some dangerous psychopath. He was a lonely orphan who had been adopted by a generous man.

And the way he figured they would see it, he was a kid who had been picked up off the streets by a billionaire and was automatically a spoiled rich kid.

No. That wasn't who he was.

Richard knew there was more depth than that. He was a kid. Just a kid. A kid who could fight crime. A kid who could do more flips than most Olympians. He was a kid who could hack the Pentagon. He didn't need Bruce's money. He didn't need a home. He probably could've gotten along on his own if need be. But how would his friends see it? Not like that.

He wasn't a spoiled rich kid. He was far from it. If they even thought about who he had been before, about what had changed his life to give him the opportunity to be the ward of Bruce Wayne, about what all he had achieved outside of the hero realm, they would see that there was more to their little bird than they thought. But would any of them look behind that mask to see who was really behind it? Could any of them really understand Richard John Grayson?

No. They were all just stuck up little snobs themselves. For the most part, anyways. Wally had the perfect life, perfect family, perfect mentor. Megan was just too oblivious to see what was wrong with the world; she was immune to suffering on the scale that most people could experience. Superboy… It depended on the view of perfect being used. And Kaldur was the sidekick of a king. A king. Richard had a good feeling that that trumped billionaire any day.

That was them. This was him. He was just furious that they couldn't have put a little bit more trust in him. He never lied to them, he just hadn't given them the whole truth. He had never not answered their questions about him; he had just answered within the limits of the Dark Knight's rule. He had almost wanted to tell them at times, but he knew they could only see a spoiled little rich kid. That wasn't Robin. That wasn't Richard Grayson. That person didn't exist. Not to him, at least.

His piercing blue eyes skimmed around the room, looking at the twenty-four holes he had punched into the walls around him. The places where he had pounded his fist in now looked like black spider webs had been spread across them. His gaze found the door that he could hear Bruce through, his footsteps a shuffle as he paced and paced, back and forth, back and forth. And then Dick buried his head into the pillow that was upon his bed, a blanket already wrapped around him by Alfred, the only person he had let in and out.

Because Alfred never questioned. Alfred didn't bother him. Alfred was kind enough to bring him food and then to leave, not bothering to pass on whatever message Bruce had sent with him. Because that was Alfred. He was concerned more for Dick's state of mind rather than to let others know what was going on behind that door. And no matter how many times the ward of Wayne had let the butler in and seen his adopted father standing on the other side, he never once saw Bruce make a move to shoulder his way into the room.

And Richard was glad these two had enough respect for him. That was why he could stand to still be around them. That was why he was fine with them rather than the backstabbing team that he had once belonged to. That was why he could still trust them. Because they still trusted him.

He wasn't upset because his mask had been peeled away to reveal the broken boy underneath. He wasn't depressed. No. Richard was livid because there was no trust between him and his so-called friends anymore. And if there was no trust, then how could there be any friendship?

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**A/N: Urggghhh… Struggled through the entire thing. Such a bear to write. Still working on Dick's personality behind the Robin persona. Robin is easy. Richard Grayson, a whole different story. Anyways, reviews are much appreciated and may help me to write another chapter faster!**

**~Sky**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Well, someone pointed out to me that I should already know what my Point C is. Of course, I wasn't psyched about hearing that (it almost struck me as offensive…) but it kind of did put things in perspective. I have had my Point C this entire time, just had no means of getting to it.**

**Good news: I storyboarded out the last of this story except for the final two chapters. I'm looking at either 29 to 30 chapters total. So like, four more? Something like that…?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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"How can they even think of sending us on a mission without Rob?" asked Kid Flash as he pulled his mask down over his face. He was perched in his seat to the left of Miss Martian, his jade gaze on the seat where his partner in crime usually sat within the bioship. "It's torture! Torture, I tell you!"

"Just because you don't have anyone to crack a joke with?" asked Superboy as his azure gaze strayed over one shoulder with a questioning black brow raised in the direction of the ginger. "You'll live." The clone then resumed his staring out at the landscape that they flew over in the green girl's ship. His face resumed its stoic expression.

The redhead pouted a bit. He didn't want to go on a mission. He wanted to move his way on over to Gotham City and go talk with his favorite little ninja. He had to fix things with the Dark Knight's protégé. Usually, he was eager to be into a battlefield with his feet moving, but now he wanted to take care of other business. "How are we supposed to be a four person team? Robin helped us build this, and now he's not even here to bask in the glory of it."

"The glory of what?" asked the jade-skinned girl as she used her mind to guide the bioship over the thick jungles of South America. "We don't have much of a team without him. Just the four of us flying around over jungles. Not much going on around here." She moved one hand away from the controls to push a few strands of her red hair behind one ear. "We should have just stopped when we had the chance."

"We should have," agreed Kaldur'ahm from where he was sitting at the front of the ship. His silver gaze was searching the landscape for the point that they were supposed to land at. "I am the leader, I should have stopped it." The Atlantean shifted almost uncomfortably in his seat, not ever looking back over his shoulder at his teammates. He almost felt disgraced for not stopping them. What kind of a leader was he?

Megan was silent. She wasn't about to argue. She should've known better too, but she hadn't said anything either.

No guilt lay heavy on Superboy. He knew his mistakes. He took them like a man. That was all he needed. He knew what he did wrong. He accepted it as it came and then moved on.

"You know what, before we all go crazy with all this guilt crap," Wally finally stood up, the seatbelts morphing away from his chest, "it's totally my fault. Got that? Totally my bad. I'm an idiot, as we all pretty much agree, and I need to fix this. AS soon as we finish this, I don't care what the League says, I'm sneaking back to Gotham and talking to that birdbrain and getting him back here. This is his team as much as it is Kaldur's." The redhead was looking at the two older boys in the front who had actually spun around to look at him. Because how often was the West boy this serious? "My fault, that's the end of this. I started it, no one could've stopped it. I would've found out anyways, although I would've gotten my butt handed to me by Bats, I wouldn't have been alone and he wuld probably still been here with you guys even if I wasn't."

Superboy blinked. "We're suffering now, the past doesn't matter." He turned away from the redhead and let his stare fall on the jungle that they were still soaring over. "We'll just fix it later."

"Mission now," reminded Aqualad, also turning away from the speedster. "We'll just focus on this now, Robin later."

That was when the ship shook with an explosion.

Megan winced, her mind connected to the organic material that flew the ship. She had felt the missile hit the ship the same as if it had hit her. Her mind was whirling from the pain, making her lose track of her direction and how she would fly the thing. The girl's muddy, murky brown eyes shut as she reeled from this sudden flame of pain that had overwhelmed more than just her mind, but her body as well.

"M'gann!" called the dark-skinned leader as he bolted from his seat, the belts that had molded around him automatically leaving their position from where they had wrapped around his chest. The leader was followed closely by Superboy who was more worried about Miss Martian than the crashing ship. Kaldur'ahm's concerns were more with the ship. Because without a bioship, how would they land? How would they get back to the headquarters?

Wally was sprawled across the floor, having been standing when the explosion caused the whole ship to shake and for him to fall. The redhead had hit his head a bit hard and needed to keep a hand on the panels on the side of the interior to be able to push himself up off the ground. The support was the only thing that was keeping him up as his jade orbs stared out the large windows that stretched around the bioship. "Guys, we've got more than a few problems," he said with slightly slurred words as one finger pointed out the window to the dangers that resided below them.

It was Superboy who was holding Megan as she winced while another missile struck the side of her precious ship. A thin crease had folded itself into her forehead, a clear sign that she was in some severe pain. "What's going on?" he snarled, voice feral and furious. "What happened?"

The girl was barely able to answer, her scared and pained tone betraying how hurt she really was by the link that connected her to the organic material of her ship. The link was deeper than most would know. "We've been hit," whimpered Miss Martian weakly, trying to hold the connection with the ship so that they wouldn't end up falling out of the sky. She didn't want to be the reason her teammates got hurt. "I can't keep this up for too much longer. We have to skip the drop zone and just land before we crash."

"Then take us down if you can, M'gann," instructed Aqualad with a glance at where Kid Flash was pointing. His silver gaze found a compound in the heavy jungles, not unlike the one where Kobra had been selling his venom. It was a bit more evident though, beasts soaring overhead of it with glaring, demonic eyes watching the bioship as it passed overhead. It had been in camouflage mode, but no one could be sure if that was still upheld after the hit that had been taken. "We'll fight our way from-" He couldn't get another word in before the ship took another hit.

In Superboy's arms, the girl cringed again, unwilling to break under the fierce blows that her ship was taking. She felt fiery, searing pain rip through the ship and another rippled drove through her as well, the connection between her and her ship almost like that of two things that had been bonded for an eternity. "I have to drop the connection soon. We can't take another hit or else it'll cave!"

The ginger speedster watched as some of the circling beasts over the compound began to rise from their almost guard-like positions up higher into the air, gaining altitude to nearly the same point that the bioship was at. "We've got more company than just missiles," said Kid Flash, trying to figure out if they could just fall from the bioship and hopefully land without dying. That would be their best chance at this point. And if Miss Martian could levitate them all down…

A beast charged the bottom of the ship, sending it rocking again and sending Wally West to the floor once again and nearly knocking Kaldur'ahm off his feet as well; the only reason the Atlantean had been able to stay up was his grip on the back of Miss Martian's chair.

"We have to get down, now," said Superboy, a fierce tone hanging on the edge of his voice. "She can't keep us up much longer."

"Down, M'gann," insisted Kaldur, trying to keep his hand on the chair as yet another monster from below had crashed against the bottom of the ship. "Quickly." His gaze then flitted to the empty seat where Robin would usually sit. "Ro-" He only realized his mistake too late. If he'd had the ninja as part of his arsenal, he could've sent the Boy Wonder down into the treetops. The Atlantean knew he could've trusted the protégé of Batman to go down and not into the compound until the rest of them had gotten down as well. He only wished he had the little raven-haired boy around still.

"We have to get out o-" Kid Flash's frantic yell was cut off as he was again shaken off his feet after just having stood up. He was sprawled out on the ground again. "Just open up a window or something and let us jump! We can't land this anywhere, are you kidding?"

Megan cringed again. She was losing her grip on the aircraft. "You guys just jump," she said, telling the ship to drop the cables down from the ceiling of the ship. Three of them dropped and Aqualad was quickly moving towards them, hardly able to stay on his feet as the ship shook once again. "I'll put the ship down somewhere and join you."

His face hardening, Superboy insisted, "I'm staying with you."

"Come on, Supes," said Wally, pulling on the clone who reluctantly pulled away from the green girl. He had managed to get himself to his feet after his third or fourth fall (he had lost count after the second) and was trying to focus on getting out of the ship. "She'll be alright. Meg's a big girl."

The girl was able to open the hatch in the bottom of the ship after another monster had just finished crashing into it, figuring it was safe to allow her teammates out. "Go, hurry!" And another missile rocked the ship, hitting the back end this time and sending the whole aircraft in a circle. "I can't hold us up much longer."

Aqualad and Kid Flash were dropping from the bioship first, followed by a reluctant Superboy who hadn't attached himself to a wire. The clone just fell through the air, quickly falling to the ground of the forest. The two other teens had gotten their cords snagged in the treetops without a clear drop zone to be falling into. Both were trapped in the treetops, and it was evident that the beasts of the Central American jungles were closing in; the growls and snarls of what sounded like feral cats were echoing through the space as Superboy stared up at his teammates and then to the ship that was still spinning out of control, Miss Martian still inside.

What else could possibly go wrong?

The cords that were holding Aqualad and Kid Flash finally snapped from the ship, sending both hurtling down from the treetops to the ground, Kid Flash doing a faceplant and Kaldur'ahm barely managing to land on his feet with a slight skid through the dirt. It was the Atlantean whose gaze followed that of the Boy of Steel. "We'll track her as soon as we're to safety," said the leader with a hand on the clone's shoulder. "Let's move, quickly."

And the beasts of the jungle emerged from the treetops with demonic eyes glaring.

"Sheesh, Rob just had to skip out on the dangerous mission, didn't he?" huffed Wally just before one of the creatures struck out at him.

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**A/N: Woah, I feel like I'm kind of getting better with dramatic stuff. Maybe…? Also, not totally sure if that's how the link with the bioship goes, but I'm kind of assuming it works like that. The show hasn't specified, so just roll with it. Anyways, reviews are helpful!**

**~Sky**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hmmm, time to write. Haven't updated "Like a Jigsaw Puzzle" in a while… Writing time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all.**

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It was a massive black and gray tiger the size of a truck that barreled out of the high hanging branches at Kid Flash. He barely managed to fall out of the way before claws sliced open the front of the costume, the "target" on his chest, as his Uncle Barry called it, shredded with the first touch of piercing steel claws.

Superboy already had two large beasts on him, both of them resembling rottweilers bigger than a car. The two beasts had skin that was practically melting off of them, almost like Blockbuster. The clone's eyes widened with the realization as he tossed one of the monsters away, only to find another one right on top of him, his body unable to stand the force; the metahuman toppled to the ground, still thrashing against cold claws that tried to rip his nearly impenetrable skin.

Kid Flash was tangoing with the tigress, his feet only getting him out of the way of the cat's massive paws. He was unable to land a blow on the beast without getting another set of fierce claws being thrown his way. The redhead already had blood welling from the four long scratches that ran across his chest. He was lucky he had dodged enough to miss the brunt of the blow.

Water whips lashing out at shadowy beasts, Kaldur'ahm was barely managing to hold his own. He was fighting against a number of large gorillas that were all moving in slowly despite the flash of his whip that had been keeping them at bay for a minute or two now. The beasts got brave and one charged, the others pursuing. It was only in the light of his weapons that he saw the melting, peeling skin that was practically coming off of them. He recognized it the same way Superboy had, in a moment of truth. The Atlantean felt his weapons morph into a mallet and a mace as he began to take on the beasts, eyes alive with the need to just survive.

"Blockbuster," managed Superboy as he shoved another huge dog off of his body. His blue eyes were furious as he felt another canine crash into his back. The teen's hands gripped the massive paws that had been thrown over his shoulders and tossed the monster against a tree, hearing the snap of a spine as it collapsed motionless to the ground.

Aqualad slashed down another gorilla as a second one charged at him, only pausing momentarily at the sound of his canine companion's death. The Atlantean took his moment and gave the large ape a bash in the head with his mace, sending the large creature to the ground with a howl of pain. "They have been enhanced by it," said Kaldur, his voice nearly breathless.

"Great." Kid Flash narrowly escaped a set of claws that nearly caught his face as the massive gray and black tiger soared over his head after giving a powerful leap. "Cadmus's reign expanded overnight. Just peachy…" And he turned to stare at the tiger only to feel massive hands on his arms, grabbing and holding him. Kid Flash barely had a chance to check over one shoulder before he felt hot air breathing down his neck, hot as the summer air. The redhead caught sight of a gorilla's face. "And it keeps on getting better and better."

There was a whipping sound in the air, and Wally felt the grip loosen, a deafening howl ringing in his ears as he was dropped. The boy fell to the ground and skittered away like a little mouse, only to find himself staring up into the face of the tiger a second later.

Superboy was still handling dogs, tossing them against trees and to the ground, trying to snap spines and necks, anything to get rid of his attackers. He didn't stand a chance with so many of them. Suddenly, what Robin had said on their Amazo mission made sense. Fighting people bigger isn't always the issue. He was a weapon, but he didn't stand a chance against those who had numbers against him. The clone wished the Boy Wonder was there; if he had been with them, they would've stood at least a bit of a chance. Another canine creatures slammed into his back and he was pinned to the ground without warning, claws piercing his skin, but never breaking through it. He was grateful for being made of steel as his "father" was.

"There's too many!" insisted Wally, narrowly missing the fist of a gorilla as he rode the tiger like a horse. He had no strategy, but was only winging it to the best of his ability. "There's no way we can get out!" His grip tightened on the tiger's fur and it let out a roar of agony, trying to buck him off with all its might. The redhead was thrown off, faceplanting into the dirt-laced jungle floor.

"Nowhere to retreat to," huffed a worn out Superboy as he threw a punch at a pouncing dog; his fist collided with the animal's jaw, sending it flying against a tree. The clone's superhearing picked up the sound of a snapping spine and then the snap of a neck as it slammed against the ground. "It's win or die trying." The boy's fingers latched onto the scruff of the dog. The Boy of Steel managed to drag the dog off his back and toss it into the trees before another was biting at his arms and legs.

"I don't like the 'die' part of that sentence," huffed Wally, scrambling to his feet and over to Kaldur'ahm's side, the only one of the three who seemed to be holding his own. That, and gorillas didn't move nearly as fast as tigers or canines, but they were much, much stronger. "Which means we should really think about getting into that warehouse… wherever it is." His jade eyes flitted from tree to tree, looking for any signs of their target.

There was none.

"Keep fighting," commanded Kaldur. His water whips kept lashing out at the apes as they gained on him, step after step after step. They continued to get closer. "When M'gann gets here, we may stand a better chance." That was when a branch was swung into the back of his head by a gorilla that had emerged from the shadowy jungle that surrounded the three boys; the Atlantean crashed to the floor, his whips evaporating and the gorillas automatically grabbing at his body, vines being used to tie him up.

Kid Flash was too slow to react to help his friend. He stood no chance against gorillas and he knew it. The redhead could only turn to see if he could find Superboy, but the paws of the tiger immediately pinned him down. The speedster was lucky enough that the vicious claws of the cat had been sheathed instead of out and slashing. He wasn't about to throw a punch and risk getting his fist bit off. So he stayed there quietly, hoping that the cat didn't smell fear. He may have been cocky, but Wally was afraid.

Superboy was still fighting, punches flying at the masses of dogs that swarmed about him like flies. He didn't care what he was hitting or what happened to them. He was feeling teeth and claws tearing at his skin. He wasn't human, but he knew he was still vulnerable to an extent. The metahuman continued to be mauled by dogs, barely even standing as two of them hung on him, skin still melting off of them and falling to the ground. Beasts had their claws at his ankles and were shredding his pants. One of them was biting at his shoe while another had its teeth sunk into his shirt and was trying to tear it off. They were just dogs. He wished he had heat vision to turn them all into hotdogs.

Three put him over the edge. The one that was clinging onto his back with paws wrapped around his neck as if strangling the life out of him was hit by another dog. The clone was off balance as it was, but with a dog latched to his leg and two on his back, he was down in the dust. Like scavengers over a dead lion, the dogs moved in, tearing at his shirt and skin until a gorilla moved them all aside, vines in its paws. And Superboy was tied up just as his companions had been.

The blue-eyed boy had to shake his head clear to realize that there were four of them sitting there. He could see Miss Martian tied up as well.

After the crash into the east side of the jungle, the girl had been snagged almost immediately by a number of chimps that had, at first, been interested in her bioship. Then they had spotted a green creature stepping out of it, and they had trapped her in the aircraft until a gorilla had emerged from the trees and taken her as its hostage. The girl had tried to fight back, but the numbers were a bit too overwhelming. She had been carried to where her teammates were.

"We're so screwed," hissed Wally through gritted teeth as the hot breath of an ape hit his face, reeking of wet leaves and dirt. "I mean, we've screwed up before, but this time, we're really screwed. _Really_ screwed." His green eyes found his two conscious teammates. Kaldur was still out cold. "This time, we got captured. I mean, seriously, we're not supposed to get _captured_. By apes, no less! This sucks!"

A cackling came out of the treetops. A heartbeat later, a dark form dropped from the sky, landing in the clearing with a metal pole in hand, stance clearly battle-ready. "You guys are _so_ not feeling the aster."

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**A/N: A lot of you predicted it, but I kind of had it planned with my storyboard. Sorry if the battle scene got screwed up somewhere. Battle scenes are my weak spot. I tried. Constructive criticism would help! Reviews also make me update faster!**

**~Sky**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: This is the chapter I've been psyched for this whole time. Like, this was the one I wanted to write. So yeah… Time to get working avidly on this!**

**Also, I'd love to get to a thousand reviews on this story. It's the closest I've ever been. If you love this, leave me a comment and some constructive criticism. Tell me what you love or what you hate or what you think I'm doing wrong, anything at all! I like feedback, really, positive or not!**

**[e] Forgot to mention that this is a flashback chapter! Just... yeah. Sorry!**

**Disclaimer: I love Young Justice. If I owned it, I wouldn't have put the next episode off until next year.**

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He'd been locked up in his room for maybe a day or two, hiding out there the way a guilty child would hide from it's mother. Dick hadn't exactly wanted to leave his team, but they had to at least understand how violated he felt. Faith... Trust... Friendship... He wasn't sure why they would betray all those things that were so sacred to him. His name, the one secret he'd kept close to his heart, had carelessly been revealed.

Maybe he was in a self-induced lockdown. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to hide away. Embarrassment? Anger? Shame? He was pissed, to say the least, that he'd been careless enough to let his friends get as far as they did. Then he was ashamed that he hadn't been able to stop them in the first place. Then there was the infernal embarrassment of his sacred secrets being revealed, his circus heritage, his ward status, his billionaire boy level. Within the ranks of his friends, he'd been just another kid.

No, not anymore. Now he could be looked down upon, seen as a weak link, disgraced, humiliated, used. He'd felt it a hundred times before. He'd hear kids complaining about their parents; he didn't have any. He'd have people try to be his friend so they could get their faces on newspapers or to get money; he hated being used. And the circus... He knew that circus people were always ridiculed. It was how it worked. Wally, of all people, would have a total heyday with it. His best friend poking and prodding at the period of his life that had been the best of times and the worst of times... He didn't want to deal with it. He only wanted to be another normal kid.

Richard's real problem was his loyalty issues. That was what drove him to make his mistakes. He was loyal to his parents, never changing his name from Grayson, never trying to forget the painful past. He would only put it in the past, push it to the back of his mind, but never, ever forget. He was loyal to Bruce, whom he'd promised that he would keep his identity classified. That was where the whole problem spouted from. That, and the fact that he was too loyal to his friends to keep from lying to them.

There had been two sides to the coin the entire time. His divided loyalty. A promise to his father or the honesty that he owed his friends? Two sides to a coin, landing on either side resulting in a dangerous fall. For Robin, there was no way out. For Richard, there was only one way out. Keep the secret.

And he'd failed.

But Robin hadn't. Not yet, anyways.

So when he'd heard Bruce on the phone with Barry, he'd felt a little bit defensive of his position on the new team. There were parts of the conversation that he was picking up on through the door's thick wood. He still hadn't talked to his father, but something told him that he still shouldn't. At least not yet. There was still some stuff he had to clean up in his own mind.

"...the jungle... No, he's not... won't leave... not my place... won't make him... I swear... Barry, don't make me want to hurt you."

The snippets of sentences that Dick could make out were faint, but he could detect the defensiveness in his father's voice. He was a bright boy and would always know when someone was thinking something. And he could tell Bruce was on his side, that his father was defending him in a way. That, and he was getting angry with Barry. For some reason, that always made Dick want to grin. Barry versus Bruce... It was such a dangerous pairing, those two were.

"...don't care if they want... won't hurt him anymore... traumatic... He doesn't want... No. Just no." Bruce's words were firm, solid, definitive. Changing his mind wasn't something Flash would be capable of; it was like trying to slam a revolving door- impossible. "...can go without... don't need him... test of strength..." Then the final words Dick could hear, "Bite me." That was always the last thing he would say when he was irritated beyond belief. Then came the sharp sound of Bruce's phone shutting and the sound of his pacing footsteps as he continued to linger outside his son's bedroom door.

From what Richard had been able to put together, there was a mission in a jungle somewhere and Bruce didn't want his ward to go, but Barry was calling anyways to try and convince the Dark Knight to send in his apprentice.

He couldn't just abandon them! If they didn't have a mission, he wouldn't've felt an ounce of guilt about leaving them in the dust. But then there was the problem of needing a hacker and acrobat to complete the team dynamics... and without him, there was no strength in numbers... and they were his _friends_. Dick knew he couldn't just abandon them. Not when they were such a big part of his life. Part of his team once Kaldur was ready to hand over the reigns.

He was torn. His own anger at the thought of going back to those who had betrayed him kept him from wanting to ever consider going back to them. But then there was the loyalty of being their friend that drove him to want to go help him. Where was the line drawn? His own self-respect or his friendship with those who had helped him through so much? Which path to take?

Well, the consequences of each were obvious, and that was most likely what made his choice easier than it normally would've been. The consequences were always something he was watching, having been a protégé to Batman for so long.

Take the easy road and stay home in his room, hiding away like a hermit in the darkness. Could result in his friends dying. Could result in Bruce feeling the urge to bust the door down. Could result in his own life crumbling.

Or the hard way. Going out, finding a jet (or kidnap Bruce's private jet), and tracking down his friends (not like it was hard or anything…) to save their butts from what was surely a mission on the fast track to failure. Even if Aqualad was in charge, that didn't mean he could hold Wally down. Richard liked to think of himself as the controlling force that kept Kid Flash from being an imbecile all the time. It was just the way the team's absurd dynamics worked. But he wanted to go to them to keep his friends from dying and to keep himself from going insane in his room. That, and he felt he deserved an apology. Even if it wasn't heartfelt, even if it wasn't honest, he still wanted to hear it just to know they would say it and admit fault.

Two roads he could take… For some reason, his friends won out over his father. How that had happened, he had no idea.

He rolled under his bed and slid open one of the loose slats. One hand reached up into the compartment until it came upon a sleek fabric that felt natural between his fingers. He tugged it out of its hiding place and hugged it to his chest before rolling back out from under his bed. Of course he had more than one costume. How else would he sneak out and don the wardrobe of his alter ego when Bruce grounded him?

It only took a moment to stick the necessities into a backpack. Belt. Cape. Mask. Uniform. Trail mix. Bug repellent. Bear repellent. Wally repellent. The simple things that he would always need for a mission. Especially the Wally repellent. Or what Bruce preferred to call it, pepper spray. As long as it got Kid Mouth to shut up for once in his life… The backpack was then slung over his shoulder and his door was left unlocked; after all, someone had to discover that he had left so they could hunt for him later. It would be a fun wild goose chase for Bruce.

It only took a minute or so for him to slide open his window and get a good grip on the ivy-covered lattice that rested against the house. It was close enough to his window for him to get a grip on it and lower himself, using the lattice as a ladder to get to the ground.

Dick was never one to waste time. He stayed ducked down in the bushes for a moment and pulled on one of his gloves, the one with the holographic computer on it. He pulled up the manor's security systems and hacked in with the override code before shutting down the motion sensors and cameras. Sure, his father would figure out he was gone soon enough, but delaying the bat would be better than getting the lecture now and saving his team later.

Once he was in the clear to make his thrilling getaway, he was on the run, leaping over bushes like a gazelle and flipping over the wall with the expertise that only an acrobat could have. His hands gripped the wall as his back faced the outside world. Then he let his weight shift and he was on his way to the ground of the outside, landing on his feet as a cat would. Richard was never able to get over the irony of his name being that of a bird and yet he had the agility of a feline.

It was another hour before he was at the landing strip for the jet. Just ask the pilot for a favor, bat his eyes and pout like a child and anyone would listen to him. Who could resist an orphan with the bluest eyes and was the son of the man who could fire him without a second thought?

Four more hours later, flying over Central America after getting directions from Grayson, the pilot checked back to see how the boy was faring-

-only to find the passenger compartment empty.

How do you tell Bruce Wayne that his ward disappeared in the middle of a flight without anyone noticing?

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**A/N: The only problem I'm having on this story are the time stamps. Please roll with the fact that the mission got delayed a day or so, which accounts for Dick's time locked up in his room. But now he's a jail bird ^.^ Oh, I should stop now… Review and I'll write more! The next chapter's gonna be fun too!**

**~Sky**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: Was writing this on a plane in the middle of the night.**

**In other random news, guess what episode got leaked onto the internet? That's right, I watched "Targets" this morning on my iPod Touch. Looks legit to me. Animation was right, time stamps fit, and sadly to say, KF, Rob, and Artemis were not in the episode. Urgh, it got me peeved. But anyways, find it on YouTube. Just use the search box, video was posted by mudballdude. That's what you get when you postpone the series and have a bunch of angry fans ^.^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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Like a phantom of the night, he had come out of the shadows. Robin's hidden eyes flitted around for the forms of the beasts that were steadily encroaching.

"How did you- What did- Why are-" None of Kid Flash's questions could be finished before another popped into his head. His mind was, for the first time, working faster than his feet. There was no explanation for this. There was no reason for Robin to have come. He had tried to take Wally's head off last time they'd seen each other and there hadn't been any words shared since then. There was no real reason for Robin to have come to save them. No reason whatsoever.

"Please just be quiet, you idiot." The first words he'd said in days. And as always, he set to work immediately. He wasn't the sort of guy to mess around.

His staff swatted the nearest creature away like it was a fly. The others continued to creep in, their forms like shifting shadows. Robin was quick, keeping up with them as they approached. The first attack came from one of the canines. It launched at him with glittering, gleaming fangs of ivory, weapons that could rip away his life in a heartbeat. Countering that was the raven-haired Boy Wonder, his weapon giving the dog a whack upside the head which sent it to the ground and then another and then another to try and knock it unconscious so he would no longer have to worry while another of the fanged beings came out at him, launching itself over the first that had fallen.

The staff was quickly plunged into the dog's chest, though not strong enough to break flesh. But Robin did have the momentum to catch it between the ribs and throw it off its path and toss it into the oncoming chain of genetically enhanced gorillas. The mutated monsters were hit by the massive canine and were thrown back into the jungle's thick foliage as the protégé of the Dark Knight continued his work.

The first dog had come forth again after rising to its paws, but with one springing motion, Robin was able to ride it more like a horse. It was close to the size of one, so it wasn't hard for him to grab a hold on the thick, heavy scruff for a grip and use it to keep his balance while his other hand wielded the staff, whacking away anything that got close enough to strike with either claws or fangs.

"I'm still not exactly sure how he does it," said Wally after elbowing Kaldur'ahm who had woken up, "but he does know how to get the job done." He couldn't help but admire his friend's skill. Kid Flash couldn't do anything that Robin could do, but he definitely wished he could mimic some of the bird's attacks.

The fierce tigress was the first to topple the boy from his steed. He'd gotten a few more monsters off of the field in the meantime, but he hadn't seen the she-beast coming. Out of nowhere, the striped feline had leapt out of the undergrowth after having gone invisible in the lush jungle. Her claws had unsheathed to glint in the tendrils of moonlight that filtered through the treetops before she had sprung.

Robin was lucky that the claws had struck his arms instead of his chest. If they had, he would've been dead on the spot. Two sets of four scratches stretched across his upper arms as he found the deep red eyes of the cat staring him down hungrily. Pinned like a mouse in a trap. He'd been thrown from his mount and was staring up into the jaws of the jungle cat as she hissed and snarled and spat at him.

Until his attacker was levitated into the air.

Three heads whipped to stare at the sole girl on the team who had her eyes closed and was focused intently on helping out the one they had hurt.

Without a word of thanks, Robin was back on his feet and back to his work, never pausing, never stopping. He was still using his staff, not wanting to bring out any heavy-duty weapons that would either set the whole jungle on fire or give the animals a chance to kill or kidnap his friends. Even if he sometimes wanted them dead, he would do it himself. But if he did it now, it'd defeat the whole purpose of coming. His staff bashed a few gorillas; their arms were knocked from under them, and they fell like dominoes, each hitting the ground in a cloud of thick gray dust. The dogs kept coming at him, but it was Miss Martian who kept them at bay. Those who got too close to the bird were thrown in some other direction, away from their prey. Just a safety precaution. Not even Robin could do everything alone.

The staff knocked a few more dogs aside, a few more gorillas biting the dust in turn, and at last, the tigress was the only one upon him. The gray beast had watched all its comrades fall and was finally the last one standing. She'd been watching for a weak point, her advanced mind watching, waiting, hunting. Just as the last canine hit the jungle's dirt floor, she chose her time to strike.

He ducked and rolled out of the way in one swift motion. He'd faintly been able to pick up on her movement through the ground, listening for rustling leaves and for shifting pebbles and stones. Sure enough, his attentiveness paid off, as he was able to escape the first attack of the she-beast. The advantage of surprise had been taken from her. Robin managed to avoid the sharp obsidian claws as his blood continued to flow from the slits in his arms. He knew what to avoid. It was just a giant cat, right?

Another pounce from the tigress; the bird barely got out from under heavy claws unscathed.

It was a quick leap from her and a roll from him. One that got him to a tree. With branches. With vines. Something in his element. Something he could work with. Another attack with glinting claws and he was scrambling up the tree, fingers searching for vines and branches in the dark to get up higher. He wanted to throw a small explosive at her, but why light the jungle on fire? He was against global warming, and he was pretty sure the world still needed jungles.

Finding a vine, he swept down out of the treetops, unseen to the she-beast. He landed a kick on her snout just before swinging up and out of sight once more, a cackle crackling through the air like static in the silence.

"Such a ninja," commented Wally, still watching while his three trapped companions all worked to untie themselves. He was the only one not even trying to get free. He wasn't even thinking about getting free. In Kid Flash's mind, he only had to wait for Robin to win this and then he'd get his friend to untie him and it'd all be over, mission ended and life going back to normal, life being awesome and all.

One more aerial attack came quick. Robin swept down again from another angle, this time with a vine wound around one hand. He tossed it down, and, just as planned, the tigress snapped at it, thinking it to be the foot of a child. Another cackle was let loose and Robin was weaving around the she-beast. He'd first swept under her with the vine in one hand; she'd been distracted, and he'd carefully chosen his moment to strike. Then circled low, feet thrumming against trees like the beat of drums as the vine wove itself around the tigress's heavy paws and thick legs. She was trying to snap at him with gnashing teeth, but he was out of the way before she could get anywhere near him. Stealth was his weapon.

Another drop, grappling hook in one hand as he fell from the treetops in the center of the small clearing. His opponent pounced on empty air as his grappling hook carried him out of harm's way. But the vine was woven around her neck after Robin came from the treetops again like a falcon coming down on it's prey.

A single tug on his end of the vine and the monster toppled just as all the others had; it lay on the ground, a furious growl ripping loose from it's throat. The sound shook the leaves on the trees and the ground around it.

"Go Rob!" called Kid Flash from where he and the rest of the young team sat, all still tied up, prisoners of war. None of them had gotten free yet.

It was the first time he'd truly paid an ounce of attention to them. One step towards them. Then another. And another. Until he was standing over them, hidden eyes betraying nothing. "Give me one good reason why I should untie you."

He may have saved them, but that didn't mean he'd forgiven them.

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**A/N: Honestly, the end of the fight scene, if you've ever watched cartoons, it's the classic "weave around the bad guy with a rope or whatever you've got and tie them up" sort of thing. Putting it into words is a challenge. So I did the best I could. Anyways, review please! Next chapter will be epic.**

**~Sky**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: An update. Sorry for leaving you guys hanging there while I went to camp. But I think I learned a lot. Got a new novel idea that I will start working on ASAP. May take away from my FanFic writing time though. I hope not.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Young Justice or any associated characters.**

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Guilty gazes found blades of green grass. Kid Flash was the only one staring up at his best friend in disbelief. No. Not after all that. After saving their skins, he was really considering leaving them there. To die. This couldn't be real. No way. Sure, Robin had his moments where he was cruel and seemingly heartless, but never would Wally think of him as a cold-blooded killer. Not even in this scenario. Not even a stab in the back deserved death. "Dude-"

Richard, behind that black and white mask that concealed his ever-growing rage, let his anger well up. "Don't 'dude' me. You went behind my back. I thought you would just trust me. If we don't have trust, what _do_we have?"

Three guilty gazes remained on the green grass. One stare challenged Robin's question. "The power of friendship."

He wasn't serious, was he? Robin had to blink a few times in disbelief. This was a serious issue and Kid Flash answered, "The power of friendship"? Seriously? That was as bad as answering "unicorn" to "Name an ungulate". Sure, a unicorn was the right answer... if it weren't a serious discussion. "The power of friendship" may have worked if it was a petty fight over cheating on a video game, but sneaking around? Lying? Betraying? No, the power of friendship meant nothing here. This was war.

No one else said anything. The air was flooded with silence between the group. The rustling of the trees hung above them but didn't disturb their thoughts. They all remained turbed.

"I keep one secret from you." Robin was pacing in front of them, his eyes only watching where he'd walk. "One secret. I keep one secret from the rest of the world. One foot in the water, one foot out. I tell you guys I'm Robin because that's who I am to you. You know my biggest secret already. And I tell you guys honestly what I like and what I don't like and all the stories I tell are true. I don't lie."

"Rob-"

He cut off the redhead. "And from the rest of the world, I keep my Robin secret. They know me by-" He didn't know what security was around this part of the jungle with the warehouse so close. "-my other name. So it's fair on both sides of the coin. Not for you guys. Gotta dig a little deeper."

"It's not that we didn't trust you," said the ginger speedster in his defense, his gaze becoming completely innocent in a heartbeat. He was almost scared that he'd see the real hurt now. He was afraid. Before there was no closure, but this time... Maybe this time he'd see what they'd really done to the little bird, the damage they'd caused.

"Then why'd you have to go poking around in my personal life?" His words were hostile, like a snake lashing out of the bushes, an unseen threat. The young boy's hands were clenched into white fists, his knuckles the color of fresh snow. "What gives you the right to harass me like that? Because I'm the youngest? Because I'm the human?"

Now real things were getting said. Insecurities were breaking loose. The chains holding all his pain and fears back had finally snapped and the beast of his nightmares was released.

He knew it wasn't really like that. Age and species played no part in this team, but it always made him feel so much smaller than those around him. He was the youngest apprentice, sure, but he was the one who'd had the most experience. He was the only human, sure, but he was pretty sure he could take down more villains than Kid Flash could on a good day. He had skills that no one could deny and yet he still felt so tiny when he looked up to the others. He felt almost insignificant and the fact that they had prodded into his world and played around in the secrets of who he was and who he had been... It was _his_ world. They had no right to be in _his_world. He didn't want them around Richard Grayson. He had to keep his two lives separate.

"No, Rob, no. You know it's not like that." Now Kid Flash was being more resolute, his voice hard like stone. "No one's going to question how good you are."

"You beat me in a fight," reminded Superboy grudgingly. His memory found the moment that he'd hit the ground after the Boy Wonder had delivered that final blow that had made his opponent drop like a bag of bricks. Mentally, he cringed. How that had happened, he had no idea. "We know you're just as good as we are."

"You may be young," came Aqualad's voice through the shadows of murky gray that encased him, "but we know you have the makings of a good leader. We would never put age into the equation. You will lead this team one day." It hit Kaldur then that if Robin took over, he may hold this over their heads... But for some reason, he doubted the child ever would.

"And we're all as human as you are." Miss Martian chirped up for the first time since she'd been captured and bound by their attackers. She had to turn her neck fully around to try watching Robin as he stood still in a beam of silver moonlight that washed over his dark clothing and raven-colored hair. "We all make our mistakes."

"Dude-" For Kid Flash, being serious wasn't possible. "Dude" was probably going to come up in any sentence that would come from his lips. "-we didn't know. We didn't know why you didn't want us to know. We didn't know who you were, okay? How were we supposed to know about the Batman being-" Even Wally was acutely aware of whatever security measures that could be in place. "-who he is? How were we supposed to know about your parents?"

Even in the pale moonlight, Robin turned paler. His fists clenched tighter. His eyes were shut tight even though no one could see it. Memories seared his mind stronger and more powerful than usual. "I can't believe you dug that deep..."

He'd said the wrong thing. Of course. Typical Wally. "We're sorry, Rob. We didn't mean to. We didn't know how bad it was for you. We didn't know. You act so normal and I got curious. It's my fault, not theirs. I told them that I wanted to know and the idea spread a little bit. I'm sorry. We're all sorry. It was an accident, alright? If we knew it was so bad, we wouldn't have done it."

He still didn't move. Anger flushed his system. Pain made his heart drop to his stomach. Anguish found a place in his throat. Sadness stole his usual smirk.

"We never meant to hurt you."

"I know."

There was a little bit of relief that washed over Kid Flash, a wave of what he hoped could be recovery for their friendship. His eyes turned eager. "I'm sorry, Rob." His words were true. He did feel horrible for what he'd done. A bit more so for mentioning the kid's parents in such a casual way, but it was the name that had thrown that dagger to start this wretched domino effect. "Really."

A few seconds. A click of a compartment on his utility belt. A knife finding the youngest member's fingers. "Hold still." And he slit the bindings of his four teammates in turn.

Kaldur was first; Superboy second; Megan came third with a smile at the young bird in thanks; finally was Wally. After rubbing his sore and raw wrists for a moment, green eyes stared into the white of that mask and sincerity came through. "It's all my fault."

"I know."

There was a mission to be completed. Drug cartels still had to be vanquished.

It was only after their success and after their little bird had gone home with his brooding daddy that Kid Flash noticed no forgiveness had been given. Every apology had been answered by "I know". He didn't sleep. He was worried that maybe his little buddy wouldn't be in the cave when he went back in the morning.

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**A/N: Argh. I wanted to write another fight scene to finish off the mission, but then I was like "Aw, no way! Too many in a row and I don't even have a solid bad guy!" So I hope that's okay. This chapter was like, "Crap, I gotta write this even though I don't want to." The end sucked big time. I'm sorry. I really am.**

**~Sky**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: I'm calling upon my Skylark Evanson Army out there. If you really love me, you'll do me one huge favor.**

**Vote for Dia Frampton on "The Voice". Call in to 1-855-VOICE-03. She really is incredible. Listen to her rendition of "Heartless" by Kanye West and you'll know what I mean. That's all I ask of you. Please. She deserves to win.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Young Justice.**

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The next morning, Wally could only feel his heart in a cold iron grip as he walked into Mount Justice. Dread was looming deep in his mind. Because what if Robin _wasn't _coming back? What if this was the end of the little bugger being on their team? Then what would Wally do? Guilt lay heavy on his shoulders. Hell, he'd stranded the Justice League without a bat and the new team without a bird. He didn't even deserve his powers anymore!

The cave's intercom system announced their arrival. "Flash, zero-four. Kid Flash, B-zero-three."

The two speedsters made their way to where bits and pieces of their teams had congregated; Kid Flash headed towards Superboy and Kaldur while his mentor went over to chat with Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Superman. Wally put one arm across Superboy's shoulders. "You guys got any word on Rob?" Stressed? Wally? Never. Panicking? Definitely.

"No one is saying anything. It is almost like they did not even know he was there yesterday." Aqualad's silver stare watched the Justice League members as they carried on a conversation like it was any other day. He could pick up a few words like "yesterday" and "hot dogs" and "explosion", but that was all. The whole conversation seemed to be thrown around too casually to be serious. He could only assume that it had nothing to do with Robin's reappearance from oblivion. The Atlantean then focused back on the team's freckled redhead. "There has been no word yet, but we hope to hear something soon."

Superboy just shrugged in his passive way and continued to listen for anything that sounded suspicious coming from the older heroes on the other side of the training pad. His blue eyes were fixated on a tile but his gaze was fuzzy, out of focus. His powers were tuned into the other three voices and acutely aware of the shuffling of pans in the kitchen from Megan working with some cookies. He reflected that it was almost like a regular day. Except for there being no Robin. And the immense stress on everyone's minds.

A low groan came from Wally. He really hoped their mentors couldn't hear him. "Do they even know?" His words came out in a choked hiss. "If they don't know, we're in so much trouble... If Batman doesn't kill us, Superman will. And that's only if Robin doesn't kill us first!" His voice stayed hushed. "I don't want to be killed by Robin! Even the Joker would be better than that! Or Amazo! Or Superman! But not _Robin_!"

"Relax," breathed Kaldur who was as calm as the waves at low tide. "We will deal with the consequences when they come." He had to keep his posture confident and his bravery intact. If Batman was coming, there could be no room for mistakes. He wouldn't let his team be beaten down by the Dark Knight. Not if he could help it.

"If we die, I vote we blame Robin." Wally held one hand up in the air as if casting his vote. His jade gaze began to flit between his two older teammates. "Who's with me?"

"How do you blame him if you're dead?"

Superboy's remark made Wally get quiet real quick. His lips snapped shut, his hand retreating back down to his side. He gave an innocent little smile. It then occurred to him how useless it would be to put any blame on Robin. He blamed himself for what Robin was going through. It was all completely his fault. Everything. And he still hadn't been forgiven. He hated it. "Touché."

That was when the cave's voice came over the intercom system. "Batman, zero-two."

Wally's blood ran cold. His muscles went rigid, tendons tensing. Fear suddenly hung thick in the air, a bit like a fog. If Robin's name didn't come over the system next...

"Robin, b-zero-one."

A little breath of relief was let loose from Wally and a consecutive one came from Kaldur'ahm. Superboy was still listening to the conversation of the Justice Leaguers and to Megan's bustling in the kitchen. He had been filtering out anything else that wasn't important. "Alright," sighed Wally, his hand on Kaldur's shoulder, "we didn't scare him off."

"Now we must hope he will come back."

Kid Flash's heart sank once more. "Yeah…" Another breath was released from him, one of slight disappointment. "Let's hope." The speedster turned around and saw the two coming in.

One wore a suit while the other wore a familiar baggy sweatshirt and sneakers. Such a contradiction to each other and to their alter egos. Neither face held a mask. Instead, there were blue eyes watching the cave. Finally, it was safe to be real people again. Or at least for Dick. Bruce was still out of his element with the whole "I'm not wearing my cape and cowl" thing.

"Dude, you came back!" Wally was quick to get towards the newcomers. His green eyes gleamed in the fluorescent lights that shone down from overhead. "I thought you were gonna bail!"

Robin, or Dick in his other life, shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Well, I can't leave you guys. Not after the fiasco in the jungle. I barely made it out alive with a little help from Megan and clearly I can't leave you guys to fend for yourselves. Which means I'm awesome." He grinned weakly. Some part of him still wasn't completely here. He had to hold back a little bit. There was always that chance that he'd get hurt again. But now that the secret was out, what was there to lose? "And Bruce said I had to. Since I snuck out and jumped out a plane. It's kind of a punishment in a way, and I can't sleep at night anymore, so I have to go back to being Robin or else there'll be problems."

Wally's gaze had been watching the kid for most of the time until his best friend had said "Bruce". Bruce Wayne. _The_ Bruce Wayne. _Bruce Wayne_. Billionaire. Rich playboy who had all the money in the world. The White Knight of Gotham. The ginger could hardly believe it. There was no way this was real. His best friend. The son of Bruce Wayne. How had he not known that? God, the kid had to have everything he could ever ask for. He probably even had his own personal gym and a trampoline. A trampoline! Wally wished he had a trampoline… And what about a car? What if Robin had his own car?

The redhead was about to fume with jealousy until he remembered what had led to that. The Flying Graysons and their tragedy. That was what transformed Richard Grayson into Robin, the Boy Wonder. It was horrific to think that that was what happened to him. Watching his own parents die… Wally couldn't imagine it. He internally shuddered.

The speedster pressed away such depressing thoughts. "So you're back? For good?" The eagerness was evident in his tone. He just wanted to have the little ninja back on the team. He also wanted the guilt to go away. Wally hadn't been able to sleep much, hadn't been able to forgive himself. He felt like punishing himself with no video games for a year would be the only way to make amends. Even that didn't seem like enough.

"As long as you guys'll have me. And as long as Bruce wants to keep me here." The blue-eyed boy beamed up at his father who was still standing stoically, a statue in the room. "So yeah, I'm back."

"But." It was the first time Bruce had spoken in this cave without a mask on and some ears. And the cape. He did have a certain liking for the cape. He felt very awkward.

A little wince came from Richard as his cerulean gaze fell back to his friend. "But I have to talk about my problems with you guys." Talking about his problems with them would be the hard part. It meant they'd have to discuss everything. His past. His trauma. His role. And then the big secret. He was dreading it. Just the thought of made him sick. Reliving it all in his mind… "It's another part of the deal."

"That's cool. We'll deal, no worries." Wally kept a grin on his face and his jade eyes flitting between the unmasked Batman and the real Robin.

"No, he means now." Dick's lips twisted awkwardly. "Like, right now. Supervision and all."

This made the redhead freeze for a moment. With Batman watching them talk about his son's problems? Well, this could be much more of a problem than he thought. More awkwardness would definitely sprout from this little epidemic of awkward. Batman in a suit was strange enough for one day. Then talking _feelings_ with the protégé of _the Dark Knight_? Could this day get any weirder? "O-okay…"

"Yeah…" Richard could only think that his day would get worse. As if he hadn't already been read the riot act… The memory of it made him cringe. Lectures from Bruce were almost as bad as lectures from Batman, possibly worse depending on what was done wrong. And he was doing things wrong in both personas, doubling the amount of trouble he was in.

Superboy had tuned in on the other side of the room. "Batman and Robin are here. And we have to talk. About things." His azure gaze disappeared behind pale lids. "With Batman there."

Even Kaldur shied away from the thought. He'd had discussions with Batman before, serious ones, and they had all turned out in a depressing way. So the Atlantean wasn't very excited about the thought of having to have another talk with Batman. But it wasn't _with_ Batman. It was _in the presence of_ Batman. Which could be worse. He wasn't so sure.

"I'll get Megan." Superboy paced off, passing the mentors that were now watching the chat between the speedster and Dynamic Duo as if it were a soap opera playing out. His feet were loud on the floor, boots heavy, legs like lead. He made his way into the kitchen just in time to see Miss Martian pulling a tray of warm chocolate chip cookies out of the oven, her telekinesis shutting the door to seal in the heat. "We're needed," he told her passively. It was just his natural manner. "Come on."

The green-skinned girl nodded silently and began to follow closely behind the clone as he made his way back over to Kaldur'ahm who had gone to join Wally and the two Gotham heroes.

Superboy paused and looked over his shoulder to her. "Bring the cookies." Because cookies did have a tendency to make everything better.

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**A/N: Leave a review! You're the best readers ever! Thank you all so much for following this story so loyally. And don't forget to vote for Dia! Scroll up, call the number ten times, send in your votes and I will love you forever.**

**~Sky**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Ah, I had to figure out how I wanted to do this. And one more chapter left! Aren't you excited?**

**Also, I thank everyone for voting for Dia with me. She came in second, a HUGE victory for such a small-time star. I appreciate it. Thank you all.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Young Justice. Although anyone is free to help me kidnap it… I'm working on the scheme as we speak…**

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It was by some miracle that Killer Croc had chosen today for his attack on Commissioner Gordon. The criminal of Gotham was holding the officer over a tank of mutated crocodiles, each with teeth the size of a child's foot. It was also part of the protectiveness that Batman held that forced Bruce to take his leave the second the report was given by Superman. It was only a minute later that the billionaire was phoning for Alfred to send the Batmobile to his coordinates while he hustled into a back room to change out of the suit and into the cape and cowl he was more used to.

"You didn't, like, pay Killer Croc to do that, did you?" questioned Wally after prodding his best friend in the side with an elbow. The ginger's jade eyes had followed the vanishing form of the suited Dark Knight as he left the cave to take care of his city. "Because I'll say that that does seem only a little bit suspicious."

The three sixteen-year-old heroes had been sitting on the L-shaped green couch in Mount Justice while the raven-haired child had been perched on the other couch with Wally by his side. Bruce had been lingering like a shadow behind his ward, watching his son's comrades with anticipation haunting his piercing blue eyes. The call had come in. A collective sigh of relief had been elicited once the Dark Knight had vanished.

"Nope," breathed Richard as he leaned forward a little bit. "Although, in retrospect, I probably should've." The kid's azure gaze checked over his shoulder to see if there was any chance of his mentor returning. "He's great and all, but only on the job. Personal life, there's a gap the size of the Grand Canyon. He keeps up with my grades and watches out for any drug use. Other than that, I just exist."

It was Kaldur who broke the momentary silence after that. "Do you still want to talk?" It wasn't concern that laced his voice; it was a tone of understanding. The Boy Wonder was opening up whether he knew it or not. Even his last few sentences had suggested that there were a few things he wanted to get off his chest. The Atlantean analyzed the young boy's features to look for any signs of aggression or sadness.

He felt a little better when he saw there were none.

"He's going to check the security cameras in here later anyways," sighed Dick as he leaned back again, figuring that this was the way it had to go down anyways. They knew things now. He just had to explain how it affected him. How it made him Robin. Then, there could be peace again. And life could go on like any other day. "We're kinda gonna have to. Or face the wrath of being watched. Supervised."

"Then let's get this over with," said Wally, rubbing his hands together as if warming them against a non-existent cold. In Wally's mind, this would all be a piece of cake. Bada-bing, bada-boom, done! "You start talking, we'll start listening."

"Not that easy." Dick's striking blue eyes found the other four in turn; part of him noticed the cookies on the table, but he resisted the urge to reach for them. He had such a soft spot for cookies... "I don't know what all you guys looked into. Whatever you saw, I need to know. There are only some parts that are in Richard Grayson's files."

Megan was already shifting uncomfortably. This was all getting so hard... They weren't even talking with Robin anymore. They were talking with his alter ego. The blue eyes had to be throwing her off. The way he could stare and seem to see right through someone's soul... It bothered her immensely.

"We read... everything..." Wally confessed this. His shoulders slumped as guilt captured his features and darkened his face. Rings of black hung under his eyes from the sleepless nights of worrying about his best friend. Exhaustion made him slower than usual, something bad for someone who could only count on super speed. "Your parents... Everything with Bruce... Fights you've been in at school, paparazzi pictures, articles about you suddenly turning into a rich kid…"

One hand ran through his dark locks. "You guys had a lot of time on your hands, didn't you?" asked Richard, suddenly wishing that he didn't have to do this. Sure, getting all this off his chest would clear his conscience for another day, but that didn't mean the roller-coaster of memories would help him any.

"How did you survive watching your parents die?"

Blue met blue as Richard found Superboy's questioning gaze. For some reason, a partial smile captured the Boy Wonder's lips. It was almost appropriate for the one who had no parents to ask about such a thing. The child shook his head slightly. "I didn't. Still have nightmares about it. I wake up screaming about twice a week. You know, when I get to sleep, that is." Dick had to blink a few times. Dust in his eyes. He never really got to talk about any of this after the accident. Bruce never talked about it. Even five months in an orphanage hadn't come with therapy. "You survive it physically, but the emotional scar runs kind of deep."

"Why don't you and Bruce get along?" Megan was the next to speak up. They had to move the talk along. Questions seemed to be working. Although she could sense the waves of pain that were coming off the youngest teen. "You both come from the same background."

"Parents killed when we were young, yeah, but that doesn't mean we always mesh. On the job, everything's pushed aside. Batman and Robin work together like ketchup and mustard or the moon and the sun. Real world, he's always in the office or with women in a bar somewhere and I'm doing homework or at school or training." Richard fingered a little loose string he found on his jacket. It kept him from having to look up a the others around him. "Night is the only time we can really share. I eat dinner with Alfred more than I do with Bruce."

"Who's Alfred?" Wally had an assumption, but...

"Our butler. But he raised Bruce, so he's more like a grandfather to me." A shrug was given.

"You have a butler?" This fact completely dumbfounded Wally. "Does that mean you have a car? Or a limousine? And a bouncy house! Do you have a bouncy house?" Emerald eyes had grown wide with the thoughts of what riches this kid probably had. A car for a thirteen-year-old. It was the most glorious thing he could ever dream of. A bit red convertible with a giant 'R' plastered on the side for Robin and-

"I have a gym in my house and a basketball court outside and a hundred or so gaming systems. No car, no bouncy house. Limousine is for special events only. I live with Bruce Wayne, not Paris Hilton." A brief glare had come from the kid before he focused on his string once more. "That's exactly why I didn't want you guys to know."

A brow raised in curiosity. "Why?" questioned Wally, wondering what he did wrong. Kaldur and Megan were both glaring while Superboy stared off into the distance, still pondering over the answer he'd been given.

A sigh was heaved. "Because I'm rich and people who are rich usually get mooched off of. Friends are fakes and phonies. You guys aren't like that, but it's a safety precaution I put up. Bruce figures it more along the guidelines of you guys spilling it to a baddie under torture circumstances. That, and I don't want any pity because of who I used to be. My parents are dead, yours aren't, yeah, I get that, but I don't deserve to get treated any different." Richard was still having a hard time looking up into those faces that had betrayed him. Talking couldn't stitch wounds this deep. "I want to be just like everybody else."

"You are. Or at least when you're here." Megan offered a weak, shy smile, trying to comfort the child. She thought that maybe if she reached out, it would help just a tiny bit. And she had heard once upon a time that every little bit helps. "We're all just trying to protect our identities. Just not from each other."

"But I know you'll treat me differently now," argued the raven-haired boy, feeling completely defenseless. Finding his name had shot down the last of the walls that protected the fortress of his mind. He'd finally lost the last thing he felt he could protect. "Now I'm not just hacker and teammate. Now I'm a person with emotions and feelings and a life. Now I'm real." All the defenses that he'd fortified under Batman's reign had suddenly fallen away, no longer needed.

"Last I checked," remarked Wally with glances at the other teens around him, "we were all real."

"It's different." He shivered at the thought of knowing Richard Grayson would now be watched by four extra sets of eyes. More stalkers to add to the growing list. "I just want to know that I'm Robin here and Richard there. I want there to be a distinction between the two. That's what Bruce and I have always done. Batman is Batman. Bruce Wayne is Bruce Wayne. All names separated."

"Too late for that now." Superboy's remark was blunt; his bluntness was a huge trait to have. Straightforward and simple.

"Yeah. I know."

Kaldur had to speak up now. "We are all sorry for the wrong we have done, but now it is time for us to ask for our forgiveness." Silver eyes scanned the faces of his teammates, each of them suddenly looking a bit more hopeful and desperate. Fear clung to the freckled face of Kid Flash, but anyone could tell that he was fighting to stay positive. And then the Atlantean's gaze swung back to the boy dressed in the civvies who sat there innocently, still heartbroken and betrayed, as he mulled over the answer to this.

Because he wasn't sure where to go from here.

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**A/N: So I got that much done in one night. Reviews are love!**

**~Sky**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: Final chapter. Few review answers:**

**First off, a lot of you commented on my portrayal of Bruce. I merely put forth the fact that he really isn't around as Bruce. Batman, yes, Bruce, no. And yeah, you can refer to "Downtime", but I still wouldn't call that real evidence.**

**Someone asked how long it takes me to write a chapter. Generally, 2-3 hours. That's if I'm roleplaying and managing my club on a sidetab. Hour and a half if I'm dead-set on writing. Just depends on my attention span, time constraints, and other duties. And what all I want to get in.**

**Last, I thank you all a million times over again for the reviews. As I write this, I am at 1,010 reviews. Thank you, thank you, thank you.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

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"Hold on," said Wally as he caught the uncertainty in his best friend's eyes. "Hooollllddd on, you're not actually thinking of not forgiving us, are you?" Panicking. He was panicking. No way. He couldn't lose after coming this far. No way. The Boy Wonder had saved their lives after they destroyed his and was now contemplating whether to forgive them or not. No way, this wasn't going to happen. He wanted his best friend back, that was all he wanted. Normal. He wanted things to go back to the way they were before.

He tried to keep his smug grin off his face. Just the panic vibes that Wally was giving off was making Richard want to grin and cackle. He never thought in a million years that he'd ever be able to make the ginger that nervous. Well, give him the Bat-glare once he perfected it, but until then… "Well…" There was so much he could do with this. He loved this leverage no matter how evil it made him feel. Then again, they had gone behind his back and done too much damage to repair it this easily.

"Oh, come on!" protested Wally, standing up and running one hand through his fiery red locks. "You can't be all dramatic about this! It's not fair!" He was looking to the others, but no one was saying anything. Kaldur was quiet while Megan looked stunned at her fellow redhead's outburst, and Superboy looked very much like Superboy. Bored with the whole thing as if the whole situation had already blown over. No one else wanted to say anything. If Wally was going to explode, they were letting him do it on his own.

A faint, sad smirk. "Let's not start talking about fair."

Wally was quiet as he plopped back down on the couch beside his friend, the cushion bouncing the smaller boy slightly. The ginger let out a long groaning sigh. "Alright, you come back with all your witty little remarks and punish us however you want." He folded his arms across his chest and put his chin up with indignation.

"I'm not going to be cruel. That'd be… cruel." He could usually come up with more words, but his mind was working on other things. This opportunity would never come around again. Never. So he had to find ways to use it to his advantage. Sure, it was devious and horrible of him to do, but he couldn't just say "Yeah, it's all good, I forgive you for looking into my past and reading through my deepest darkest secrets. No problem." No, they wouldn't get away that easily. Not if he had anything to do with it. Of course, Bruce wasn't here now. That was good for more things than anyone could ever imagine.

"You're creative today," remarked Wally, finding that he was the only one really doing anything here. Everyone else was dead as doornails, useless.

"Robin," spoke Miss Martian, finally deciding that since no one was getting anywhere and Wally was just asking for a good punch in the nose, "we're all really sorry." The girl was wringing her hands nervously, brown eyes fixated on the boy who was sitting there with his serious face and faint remnants of who he used to be. Clearly, the cookies weren't doing anything today.

"And I'm ready to forgive you."

It was almost the same collective sigh of relief that had been released when Ba- Bruce had left the room. Except for the fact that Dick wasn't sighing with them. He was still scheming in his little scheming ways.

"On a few conditions."

Wally, on one hand, wanted to strangle the kid; on the other hand, he wanted to hug him and strangle him at the same time, in a nicer way though, of course. "Like what?" asked the speedster with a bit of huffed rage on his voice. He just wanted to be forgiven. He didn't want to have to go through other conditions. Wally wanted everything to be back to normal, the new information stored away in his brain for safekeeping. Things would go back to normal, that was all he wanted now.

"Whenever I have to clean the Batmobile, you're doing it for me." Why? Because Dick seriously hated cleaning the Batmobile. Superman had kryptonite, Dick had the Batmobile and a hose. It was Bruce's punishment for everything. That, and making him eat vegetables and taking away his cape and mask. Since that last one didn't matter anymore with his stash of a second costume, the Batmobile was pretty much his last resort.

"Big deal," huffed Superboy, still sitting back and watching everything around him with that detached stare he seemed to always wear.

"And you won't treat me any differently." Because he didn't want anything to change. He wanted to be Robin. Dick Grayson would remain a distant thought, separate from this world, native to that of Gotham City and Bruce Wayne. That was how he planned on having it stay. Yes, Dick existed here now, but he wasn't actually here. If that made any sense… "And I'm still Robin."

"No problem," said Wally, flipping his hand nonchalantly. He wasn't sure if he could even manage to say "Dick" or "Richard" instead of "Robin". To him, this kid was still Robin. He could see another persona behind it, but it wasn't as present in his mindset as the Boy Wonder was. A hacker versus a billionaire's son. Robin would always be Robin.

Aqualad and Megan nodded; Superboy remained passive in the background as only Superboy could be.

Richard had to mull over it for a bit. "And don't do it to anyone else who joins the team." Because that sounded good. He was setting guidelines now that would protect future members. Maybe if something serious came up, this condition could be ignored, but he mostly wanted to keep them from ruining other lives.

"Who said anyone else was going to join?" commented Superboy in a hushed voice. His arms were folded across his chest, his gaze distant, his mind elsewhere, his ears scarcely even listening in on this conversation when the League members were still on the other side of the room talking by themselves.

"With you talking like that, no one will want to join," remarked Wally; he was just impatient to get this all over with. Normal, that was his goal. Normal. This was taking far too long for his liking. He fought with his need to start his foot tapping at light speed.

Kaldur'ahm found his moment to intervene. The dark-skinned Atlantean said in a somewhat rough and disciplining tone, "Superboy, Kid."

The two quickly found themselves quiet.

"And…" He was not good at this whole punishment thing. His parents used to take away his videogames or make him train for an extra hour or wash the dishes. This was a team, not his family. Well, in a way, they were, but there were still such drastic differences that none of those were suitable. And Bruce, well… Bruce wasn't very good with punishments. Vegetables and Batmobile-washing were the worst he could do. So this was a learning experience. "You guys have to give me piggyback rides whenever I ask."

This got him a few questioning looks and an awkward half-jaw-drop from Wally.

"Yeah, I'm not good at this stuff. That's the best I could come up with." He shrugged while looking at his friends half-heartedly. "I don't get in trouble that much."

"Piggyback rides?" asked Wally, trying to fight off a case of severe giggles. Really, where was this kid getting this from? A bad sitcom? He could only imagine where the last one had come from. Sure, the first one was alright and the other two were understandable, but piggyback rides? For real? He wasn't sure whether to ask if it was some kind of sick joke or not.

Back to his feisty self, Dick was quick to punch Kid Flash in the shoulder. "Yes! I don't know what I'm doing!" The kid, after having his fist caught on the retreat, kicked Wally in the shin. "I'm not a drill-instructor, sheesh!"

As the two began their daily "I hate you, I'm gonna kill you, lemme punch your guts out" antics, the other three sat back, the tension now forgotten and faded. Megan handed a cookie to each of the other two sixteen-year-olds who sat on either side of her. "That ended… well." It hadn't ended badly, that was for sure. The green-skinned girl just wasn't sure how to say exactly how it had ended. Not good, but not terrible. "Well" seemed to sum it up nicely.

"They're back to trying to kill each other," noted Superboy, just holding his cookie as he saw Robin already in a headlock with Kid Flash in prime noogie position. He was still trying to figure out how Robin could go from circus boy with dark background to Boy Wonder, son of the Dark Knight and turn into this great kid. Some part of him just wasn't computing it. Weren't the people like that always supposed to turn into bad guys?

"I would not say that that is a bad thing." Kaldur smiled at the two as Robin was wrapping his arm around Wally's neck, the two already pretty much in the middle of a wrestling match. "It could have ended worse." He took a bite of his cookie.

"True, true," agreed Megan and Superboy almost simultaneously, the two exchanging knowing glances, blue meeting brown for a scarce moment.

"To the kitchen!" shouted Robin, now pretty much on Wally's back to get the right angle for a perfect choke-hold. "I command you!" The kid had a fistful of Wally's short red hair in his hand for some reason and Wally was giving what looked like a silence scream as he tried to elbow the little bird.

"You guys are going to kill each other," commented Superboy, now taking a bite of his own cookie, which tasted a bit like ash and used coals. He wasn't sure why he knew that.

With his head yanked far back because of Robin's hold on him, Wally stood up, nearly falling back on the couch and crushing the Boy Wonder under him. The redhead shifted his weight and managed to stay on his feet. Kid Flash then staggered towards the kitchen as instructed, Robin giving a low cackle from where he hung on the older boy. After Robin dropped from his back and began digging around in the fridge, Wally leaned against the counter and took a breath. "Are we cool?"

Turning, Robin smiled with a soda in hand. "Yeah. We're cool."

He'd initially been reluctant to forgive. His secret was out, his world was crumbling. But then there were moments like this where all he had to do was instigate a friendly fight and he couldn't imagine being anywhere else. This was home. Robin knew his friends needed him and he needed them.

"Now… to the couch!"

A/N: I kind of wanted to end it on a happy/funny note. Piggyback rides… Yeah, random, but it's not like he has a real concept of how to punish. He's a good kid.

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**Fin. Review. Love you all. Thank you for reading.**

**~Sky**


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